What are the biggest challenges for NASA and for the Artemis II crew?
This is a test flight, so the challenges will likely be numerous and unforeseen. I just had a chance to attend the astronauts' arrival here at the Florida launch site on Friday, and mission commander Reid Wiseman spoke to exactly that: "There are going to be things that we didn't expect. There's going to be comms linkage difficulties. There's going to be all sorts of things." Of course, NASA's stance is that it does everything it can to prevent mistakes ahead of flight, but spaceflight is inherently risky. For this mission, a 6-million-pound rocket constructed from parts made by more than 3,800 suppliers will have to safely burn through millions of pounds of highly explosive fuel — and that's just in the first few minutes. The astronauts are extensively trained to expect the unexpected, however, and they tend to embrace the difficulties. As Wiseman's Canadian crewmate, Jeremy Hansen, put it: "I think one thing that's common for astronauts is: we just crave a challenge."
A lot of people are getting excited about NASA going back to the moon. What do you find most thrilling about covering our return to the moon?
This has been a long time in the making! NASA has been talking about going back to the moon for almost as long as we've stopped going. (The last visit was in 1972 by the Apollo 17 astronauts.) When talking to the NASA professionals and engineers that have poured years of their lives into making this a possibility, they'll tell you the pre-launch fanfare is like drawing in a deep, anxiety-riddled breath before the exhilaration of watching this mission take flight.
Watching a rocket launch is by far the most visceral and thrilling part of covering a mission like this. The roar of the rocket can vibrate your bones, and you really get the sense that this gargantuan manmade machine is violently trying to defy the laws of physics. It's a wild experience.
How is CNN approaching coverage differently from other outlets?
The fantastic thing about CNN is that we can tell stories on a variety of platforms. We have our excellent TV and digital video teams that will be on the ground producing content; our interactive graphics and visuals teams are contributing some incredible, immersive content; and I'll be posting live updates to our website every step of the way — adding in little tidbits about the space world that I've mined from a decade covering this beat.
There's some huge space fans working behind the scenes at CNN, and this is the thrill of a lifetime for us.
How does this mission tie into commercial space players like SpaceX?
SpaceX is very much a part of NASA's Artemis program. But to understand the dynamics at play, just know that space companies fall into two camps: "legacy" space and "new" space.
The big orange rocket that's currently on the launch pad and the crew capsule on top of it are both designed by NASA and built by legacy contractors, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin. And work on those vehicles began more than a decade ago — when SpaceX was still a young company that a lot of industry professionals did not take seriously.
Today, that dynamic is very different. Obviously, SpaceX is now a dominant global player, and NASA is planning to lean heavily on the company — and its chief competitor, Blue Origin — later down the line in the Artemis program.
Specifically, SpaceX has been tapped to build the lunar lander that will take astronauts from their NASA-made Orion capsule down to the lunar surface on the first touchdown mission, called Artemis IV. It's currently slated for 2028.
How does Artemis II fit into the broader goals of NASA's Artemis program and the international effort to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon?
This is the first steppingstone on a long path. The goal of Artemis II is to test out NASA's Orion spacecraft, which is designed to operate in deep space but has never actually flown with humans on board. The crew on this mission will be evaluating the life support equipment, figuring out how it flies when you manually pilot the craft, and taking notes on how it can be improved in the future. If Orion performs well, it'll set NASA up to begin tackling those more complicated missions.
What role does public interest and support play in the Artemis program and its future missions?
It has a major impact. The Artemis program has cost taxpayers roughly $100 billion since its inception — and it will take many billions more to realize the ambitious goals NASA has mapped out. Keep in mind, however, that during the Apollo program, NASA had more than 4% of the entire national budget. Now, the space agency operates with less than half of one percent. (Spoiler: That's why it's taken so long to go back to the moon.)
The daunting task ahead of NASA is to figure out how to fund its ambitious human exploration goals while still keeping up with its other important scientific endeavors. The big question is how much money Congress will put toward these bold new projects, and the popularity and perception of spaceflight certainly play a role there.
Space exploration has led to so many historical advancements in computing, mathematics and aeronautics. Are there any new technological advancements or changes in this project compared to missions we've seen in the past?
Yes — the Silicon Valley revolution spurred by Apollo is coming full circle!
It's an oft-cited fact that the Apollo missions flew with computers less powerful than a modern smartphone. Now, each of the four astronauts on board Artemis II will have that technology in their own pockets! (Yup, they're all bringing iPhones and laptops.)
Orion itself also runs on millions of lines of code compared to Apollo's 145,000. The spacecraft is as much a vessel for novel software as it is a piece of hardware.
What role are our international partners playing in making the mission successful?
I hear that Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen is the comedian of the crew, so he's certainly bringing levity to his three crewmates — NASA's Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman — during their ten-day trek through the cosmos.
Critically, the European Space Agency also built the service module that attaches to the Orion crew capsule, providing it with engines to steer and boost the capsule as well as oxygen and electricity generated by its solar panels. It's really the lifeblood of the mission.
NASA has also made a concerted effort to make the Artemis Program a collaborative effort. A formal document outlining the program's principles, called the Artemis Accords, as more than 60 signatory countries.
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