Astrophiles are eagerly awaiting the launch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis II on Wednesday, which is set to be the most powerful rocket launch on record and will send human beings back toward the moon for the first time in over 50 years.
Beyond the array of impressive technical feats involved, the mission marks a new era of space exploration and competition after decades of relative dormancy, as the United States and China race to return astronauts to the moon and establish a sustained presence there, Northeastern University experts say.
“Politically speaking, it’s very important that this mission succeeds, especially given its symbolic weight,” said Mai’a Cross, dean’s professor of political science, international affairs and diplomacy at Northeastern University, and an expert on space diplomacy and cooperation. “If the U.S. doesn’t achieve that first, there will likely be a rapid and significant response to correct course.”
Rather than land on the moon, the lunar “flyby” mission is meant to be a test flight for the Orion spacecraft, which is the vehicle carrying the four astronauts as part of the new mission. The spacecraft will spend a full day in high Earth orbit, a distance of more than 35,000 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, and 10 total days in deep space, which is space beyond the Earth-Moon system.
The mission’s American astronauts include NASA’s Reid Wiseman, who is the spacecraft’s commander, Victor Glover, a pilot, and Christina Koch, a mission specialist, as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen. The four astronauts are scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday evening, beginning at 6:24 p.m. ET, at the earliest.
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