posted 11-16-2022 02:53 AM               

NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft lift off on Artemis I from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 16, 2022, at 1:47 a.m. EST.

posted 11-16-2022 08:41 AM               

Watch live as the Orion spacecraft, after having launched into space aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, shares its first Earth views during its outbound coast to the Moon.

posted 11-16-2022 03:21 PM               

I have witnessed two Shuttle launches at KSC and they were both impressive kidney shakers with wild snapping and crackling of the local atmosphere. I expect the Artemis would be even more impressive.

posted 11-17-2022 09:53 AM               

Time lapse footage from the NASA's Orion spacecraft as Artemis I journeys to the moon. Orion is scheduled to make its closest approach to the vicinity of the moon on Nov. 21.

posted 11-17-2022 09:58 AM               

A view of Earth taken on November 16, 2022 from NASA's Orion spacecraft while about 57,000 miles/92,000 km away on its way to the moon. North on Earth is to the left here. (Edited screenshot from NASA TV live coverage).

posted 11-17-2022 03:26 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Headshot:
...is there an up-to-date timeline of significant flight events (LOI, DRO, etc) for the duration of this mission?

---

Flight Day 2-5 - Outbound transit

Flight Day 6-9 - Transit to Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) around the Moon

Flight Day 6 (11/21): Outbound Powered Fly-by (burn 7:44 a.m.), Lunar close approach (~80 miles, 130 km)

Flight Day 10-15 - In DRO

Flight Day 10 (11/25): DRO Insertion (burn 4:52 p.m.)

Flight Day 11 (11/26): Orion passes Apollo 13 Record of 248,655 miles (400,171 km) from Earth for a spacecraft designed for humans (9:25 a.m.)

Flight Day 13: (11/28): Orion reaches maximum distance from Earth (4:48 p.m.) at approximately 268,554 miles (432,194 km)

Flight Day 16-19 - Exit DRO

Flight Day 16 (12/1): DRO Departure (burn 4:53 p.m.)

Flight Day 20-26 - Return transit

Flight Day 20 (12/5): Return Flyby (burn 11:43 a.m.), Lunar close approach (~79 miles, 128 km)

Flight Day 26 - Earth Return

Flight Day 26 (12/11): Splashdown (1:06 p.m.)

posted 11-17-2022 08:32 PM               

• Lunar IceCube – Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky
  Searching for water in all forms and other volatiles with an infrared spectrometer

  NASA's Lunar IceCube mission has made contact after deployment.

• LunaH-Map – Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
  Creating higher-fidelity maps of near-surface hydrogen in craters and other permanently shadowed regions of the lunar South Pole with neutron spectrometers

  Our LunaH-Map cubesat, launched as a secondary payload on Artemis I, has called home! Its batteries are charging, and it is sending and receiving signals on its journey to the Moon.

• LunIR – Lockheed Martin, Denver, Colorado
  Performing advanced infrared imaging of the lunar surface

• OMOTENASHI – JAXA, Japan
  Developing the world’s smallest lunar lander and studying the lunar environment

  OMOTENASHI separated on November 16 (JST), but currently the CubeSat has not completed sun acquisition and communication is not stable. We are therefore continuing operations to stablise attitude, secure power and establish communication.

• CuSP – Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
  Measuring particles and magnetic fields as a space weather station

  We've received the first communications from CuSP and are now doing the checkout.

• BioSentinel – Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, California
  Using single-celled yeast to detect, measure and compare the impact of deep-space radiation on living organisms over a long period of time

• EQUULEUS – University of Tokyo/JAXA, Japan
  Imaging the Earth’s plasmasphere for a better understanding of Earth’s radiation environment from Earth-Moon LaGrange 2 point

  EQUULEUS separated on November 16 (JST) and was confimed to be operating normally at 22:50 (JST) on the same day.

• NEA Scout – Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
  Traveling by solar sail to a near-Earth asteroid and taking pictures and other characterizations of its surface

  Following successful separation and deployment from the Space Launch System on Nov. 16, NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) project team has not yet established communications with the spacecraft. Teams continue working to initiate contact with NEA Scout.

• ArgoMoon – Italian Space Agency (ASI)
  Observing the interim cryogenic propulsion stage with advanced optics and software imaging system

• Team Miles – Tampa, Florida
  Demonstrating propulsion using plasma thrusters and competing in NASA’s Deep Space Derby

posted 11-18-2022 11:09 AM               

First, teams were still in safing operations at the pad until today, and so it was a controlled area. Only essential personnel were permitted access. For example, photographers were only able to retrieve their remote cameras beginning today. (That wouldn't necessarily apply to NASA's own cameras, but it might not have been a priority.)

Second, for reasons not yet clear, NASA has declared many more views and details about the Space Launch System as falling under ITAR than it did during the space shuttle program. For example, photographers have been instructed that no photos of the pad will be allowed when they are allowed to go retrieve their cameras because the umbilical heads are ITAR-restricted (even though NASA has previously released images of the same heads).

posted 11-18-2022 04:06 PM               

From NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA previews the Orion spacecraft's entry into the moon's sphere of influence and the pair of maneuvers that will propel the spacecraft into a distant retrograde lunar orbit. Briefing participants will include:

• Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager, NASA Headquarters
  
• Jeff Radigan, flight director, Johnson
  
• Jim Geffre, Orion vehicle integration manager, Johnson

Orion's entry into the lunar sphere of influence will make the Moon, instead of Earth, the main gravitational force acting on the spacecraft. Flight controllers will conduct an outbound powered flyby burn to harness the force from the moon's gravity, accelerate the spacecraft, and direct it toward a distant retrograde orbit beyond the moon. During the outbound powered flyby, Orion will make its closest approach – approximately 80 miles – above to the lunar surface. Four days later, another burn using the European Service Module will insert Orion into distant retrograde orbit, where it will remain for about a week to test spacecraft systems.

NASA will provide live coverage of the outbound powered flyby on Monday, Nov. 21, at 7:15 a.m. EST. The burn will occur at 7:44 a.m., with Orion's closest approach occurring shortly after at 7:57 a.m. Live NASA TV coverage of the distant retrograde orbit insertion burn on Friday, Nov. 25 will begin at 4:30 p.m. The insertion burn will occur at 4:52 p.m.

posted 11-18-2022 05:33 PM               

My name is on the drive alongside over 200 of my students, the launch was 3 hours before school started here in Ireland but we watched it repeatedly over the day.

posted 11-19-2022 05:50 PM               

Four cameras attached to the spacecraft's solar array wings on the service module will help engineers assess the overall health of the outside of Orion and can capture a selfie view of the spacecraft with the Earth or Moon in the background.

"Each of Orion's four solar array wings has a commercial off-the-shelf camera mounted at the tip that has been highly modified for use in space, providing a view of the spacecraft exterior," said David Melendrez, imagery integration lead for the Orion Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

posted 11-20-2022 09:21 AM               

"NASA did not provide a reason," Eric Berger, Ars Technica's senior space editor, tweeted. The reporter added that according to his sources, the ban was apparently an attempt to save face after the launch damaged the tower.

"So now sources are saying that yes, Launch Complex-39B tower was damaged during the Artemis I launch on Wednesday morning," Berger tweeted. "Basically, there were leaks and damage where there weren't supposed to be leaks and damage."

posted 11-20-2022 10:56 AM               

Because the current state of configuration, there are ITAR restrictions and photos are not permitted at this time.

The mobile launcher has flight interfaces on it that are considered export controlled and not all of those are in a configuration that are ready to be photographed and shared. There is some amount of work that needs to be done to get those into configuration.

Prior images that have been shared were either shared at a low enough resolution where that was not an issue or were shared such that the umbilical interfaces were not in full view such that they were export or ITAR controlled.

That's my understanding of it. I am not an ITAR expert, but that's what I know on that particular topic.

posted 11-20-2022 11:41 PM               

Watch live as NASA's Orion spacecraft performs a close approach of the lunar surface on its way to a distant retrograde orbit, a highly stable orbit thousands of miles beyond the Moon.

posted 11-25-2022 03:06 PM               

At 4:52 p.m. EST (21:52 UTC) on Friday (Nov. 25), the Orion spacecraft will perform a burn burn to enter a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon, an orbit that is high altitude from the surface of the Moon and opposite the direction of the Moon travels around Earth.

posted 11-28-2022 02:59 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by David C:
I think for future missions, they need to put out a press kit that's less glossy and gee whiz, and more hard tech.

---