NASA says the Artemis II mission is proceeding as planned after a critical engine burn pushed the four-person crew onto a path to the moon. At roughly 115 miles above Earth, the main engine fired for 5 minutes and 50 seconds in a translunar injection burn that carried the Orion capsule out of Earth orbit and onto a trajectory toward the lunar neighborhood — a distance humans have not traveled in more than half a century.
Mission commander Reid Wiseman, speaking from the spacecraft after the burn, said the crew was struck by the magnitude of the moment. He called sending four people some 250,000 miles away a herculean effort and said the team was ‘‘definitely, 100% on our way to the moon,’’ praising the achievement as an extraordinary technical success.
The flight plan uses the moon’s gravity to sling the capsule around the far side and send it back to Earth, with a planned splashdown in the Pacific off San Diego in about eight days. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen told Mission Control the crew was feeling good and thanked the international effort behind Artemis II, saying it reflects what humanity can accomplish together.
Officials reported a few minor issues that have not threatened the mission. A small problem with the spacecraft’s water dispensing system led the crew to bag water as a precaution. Earlier, a cabin pressurization leak warning briefly appeared before the translunar injection burn; ground controllers observed stable pressure and temperature and determined the alarm was a false indication.
Artemis flight director Judd Frieling called the alert a false alarm, and Hansen said the warning grabbed the crew’s attention as they considered whether a real leak would have required an early return. ‘‘Luckily, it was just a little anomaly,’’ Hansen said, adding that Houston assisted the crew in resolving the issue.
Lori Glaze of NASA said mission control was pleased with the current status and reiterated that Artemis II remains a test flight. Part of the mission’s purpose is to evaluate how the capsule and its systems perform with people on board and to ensure that false alarms and other anomalies are managed so they won’t distract crews on future lunar missions.
With translunar injection complete, officials noted, the laws of orbital mechanics will carry Orion and its crew toward the moon, around the far side, and back to Earth as planned.