Skip to main content

NASA’s moon crew enjoys first close encounter with their Orion spaceship

The four astronauts embarking on a mission to the moon next year have had their first good look at the Orion capsule that will take them there.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, got up close and personal with the Orion spacecraft during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center from where the moon-bound Artemis II mission is currently scheduled to launch in November 2024.

The Kennedy Space Center also shared a short video showing the astronauts’ reaction as they took their first in-person look at the spacecraft.

Recommended Videos

👀The #Artemis II crew got a first look at the @NASA_Orion spacecraft that is slated to fly them around the Moon in late 2024. pic.twitter.com/fOt4MQq79n

— NASA's Kennedy Space Center (@NASAKennedy) August 8, 2023

Artemis II will fly the same route as the uncrewed Artemis I mission, which successfully tested the flight system in a mission last year that also saw the first launch of NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System rocket.

The 10-day trip won’t land on the moon but instead perform a flyby, coming within around 80 miles of the lunar surface in a voyage designed to confirm Orion’s safety for carrying humans.

“This is a developmental mission,” Koch said at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday in comments reported by space.com. “We’re going to be training. We’re going to be figuring things out with the team as we go and really embrace the uncertainty.”

Wiseman added: “We’re helping influence the design of this to help our future astronauts that are going to have much bigger, much more complex missions.”

A successful Artemis II mission will pave the way for the highly anticipated Artemis III mission that will put the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface in what will also be the first moon landing since 1972.

But the upcoming Artemis II flight will also record a bunch of firsts, with Koch becoming the first woman to go on a lunar flight, Glover the first Black man to do so, and Hansen the first non-American to go on such a mission.

NASA revealed the crew for the Artemis II mission at a big event in April, with the four astronauts beginning their training a short while later. While Koch, Glover, and Wiseman have all traveled to space before, this will be the first such mission for Hansen.

And now that they’ve seen the Orion capsule up close, the spacefarers must be feeling a little differently about the upcoming adventure, with the close encounter elevating the mission to a new level of reality.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch NASA begin testing its Orion capsule for lunar flyby
NASA starts testing the Orion capsule for the Artemis II mission.

NASA has started testing the Orion spacecraft that will take four astronauts on a voyage around the moon as part of the Artemis II mission currently scheduled for 2025.

The space agency shared a video (below) showing the Orion capsule being transported to an upgraded vacuum chamber inside the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There, it will undergo electromagnetic compatibility and interference testing.

Read more
These 3 companies are developing NASA’s new moon vehicle
An artist’s concept design of NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle.

NASA has big plans for the moon -- not only sending people back to the moon for the first time in over 50 years but also having them investigate the exciting south pole region, where water is thought to be available. The plan is not just for astronauts to visit for a day or two, but to have them stay on the moon for weeks at a time, exploring the surrounding area. And to explore, they can't just travel on foot -- they'll need a new moon buggy.

Today, Wednesday, April 3, NASA announced the three companies developing its new lunar vehicle: Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab. They'll each develop a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that can carry astronauts from their landing site across the moon's surface, allowing them to range further and reach more areas of interest.

Read more
NASA reveals target date for first crewed Starliner flight
Boeing Space's Starliner spacecraft.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. Boeing / Boeing

NASA and Boeing are making the final preparations for the long-awaited and much-delayed maiden crewed flight of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

Read more