The Artemis II Moon mission path is a feat of engineering

Take off. At 6:35 ET on April 2, a Space Launch System rocket lifted the Orion capsule from Earth. On board the spacecraft were Artemis 2 astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. As of Thursday, they became the first humans to go beyond low-Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The crew will test technological systems that will be useful in later missions, such as those involving radiation protection or communication between the capsule and Earth at lunar distances. One of the most fascinating aspects as well is the path that Artemis II will follow during her mission.

Space is place

Contrary to what intuition might suggest, a journey to the Moon is not a direct, linear path connecting the surface of the Earth to the surface of the Moon.

After launch, the SLS first stage separated from the rest of the spacecraft – the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage and the Orion capsule. ICPS carried the capsule into high Earth orbit, but the crew remained orbiting Earth for about 23 hours. After all the checks and verification that everything was fine, ICPS parted ways with Orion. That’s when the journey to the moon really began.

Courtesy of NASA

Lunar flyby

The halfway point will occur on the evening of April 6. The Artemis 2 astronauts will travel about 10,300 kilometers beyond the Moon, breaking all previous distance records from Earth. The current record holder is the Apollo 13 mission, which reached nearly 400 kilometers above the surface of the moon.

Artemis 2’s closest approach to the lunar surface will be 7,400 km, and will be reached during a far-side flyby. The spacecraft will not enter orbit around the Moon but will fly by it and use a gravity slingshot to return to Earth. The result is a figure-eight-shaped path between the two celestial bodies. The orbit is optimized to ensure return to Earth, even in the event of engine failure.

Back to earth

Reentry will take place via a passive trajectory: after flyby over the Moon, Orion will be in free fall toward Earth, without having to use its engines. If there are problems with propulsion or other systems, the capsule will return safely to Earth.

Photography: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Reentry will occur by retrenchment in the Pacific Ocean on April 11, 9 days and 13 hours after the mission was launched. There the US Navy will recover the astronauts, thus concluding their journey home.

This story originally appeared in WIRED Italia and was translated from Italian.