Artemis II

[Lonewolf_50]

Interesting what attracts the attention of the idioterati on PPRuNe.

Artemis II just launched, headed for the moon (Alice). Not a peep out of the allegedly aware who obsess over space, UFOs and volcanos in Hawaii.
As we say in South Texas: tu madre.

The launch reminded me a little bit of the Apollo years of my youth.
But as jaded and cynical as I am, all I could do was breath a sigh of relief that the launch went off well.
Challenger is still, 40 years on, fresh in my memory.

[Peperomia]

Just watched it live on this side of the pond too, and agree, after watching Challenger all those years ago, I genuinely felt quite anxious. Those astronauts are so, so courageous. Apparently it will be the furtherest any human has been from Earth.

Was lucky enough to be in Florida when Discovery was launched, but on the Gulf coast side. We watched it live on TV then ran outside and were able to see the flare from the space shuttle from the other side of the state before it left the atmosphere.

I’ll be following the whole 10 day mission with interest.

[Mr Albert Ross]

Good to see the real America doing well -- as the real America so often does.

(On my way to school many years ago, we stopped to listen to Armstrong set foot on the Moon. Our daughter has shaken hands with one of those who also walked there. We will follow this closely with great interest!!)

[jolihokistix]

Agreed.
Early morning in Japan, but what a powerful lift-off, and what a relief it is all working as planned.

[MechEngr]

I was watching it live (as live as the slight broadcast delays can make it.)

The chances of success over the Shuttle were far higher as there weren't piles of technical risks and political compromises (obvious ones, anyway) in the structure.

They even had engine covers to prevent anything from getting up into the fuel and controls above the engine nozzles.

[visibility3miles]

To cut and paste my comments on the “universe” thread:

visibility3miles
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I plan to watch the Artemis rocket launch on TV.

I still like the movie “The Dish.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dish

My mother forced us to watch all of the moon launches when we were young, when we were too young to realize how important they were, and our interest faded after the first few launches.

I have watched one space shuttle landing. Well worth the drive in the middle of the night.

1st April 2026 | 17:44
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visibility3miles
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From: USA
https://www.nasa.gov

NASA’s Artemis II Crew Launches to the Moon

[TWT]

I too watched the Challenger launch live in 1986, I remember exactly where I was. Won't forget it. I hope this mission goes
well and that the crew return safely.

[EXDAC]

I watched the launch live on NASA TV. I watched it again on TV news. There seem to be repeated references to this mission as "historic". What is historic about repeating part of the Apollo 8 mission from about 58 years ago?

A critical part of the Apollo 8 mission was entry into, and exit from, lunar orbit. Artemis II does not do that hence "part of" the Apollo 8 mission.

[Lonewolf_50]

Thank you all for your replies.

I just watched the address of our President about the war in Iran, and he led off with the Artemis II Launch.

my reaction was:

Uh, thanks for nothing.

But I am glad that the launch went well.

[treadigraph]

Just woken up to the news of the successful launch. I believe this flight will take mankind a little further out than any of the Apollo missions ever ventured.

I happened to be in Florida at the time of the first post-Challenger launch and watched from a board walk by Patrick AFB along with lots of Americans. When the boosters separated I recall a collective sigh of relief and think we had all been holding our breath.

[NineEighteen]

Originally Posted by EXDAC

There seem to be repeated references to this mission as "historic". What is historic about repeating part of the Apollo 8 mission from about 58 years ago?

It’s the first time Orion/SLS has launched on a crewed mission.

It’s the first time humans have left LEO since 1972.

The first Canadian to do so.

The first female to do so.

The furthest humans have ventured from Earth.

The mission is an international collaboration on equipment.

There are other ‘historic’ aspects but above all, every flight is a test flight and is quite an achievement regardless of the fact that similar was achieved 58 years ago before politics interrupted progress.

[Airbanda]

Both myself and Mrs Banda have a fascination with this stuff back to being pre-teens during Apollo 11 and have been following Artemis as we've done other missions down the years.

Shuttle launches to the ISS used VHF comms for a time after launch and I was able to hear it in the Midlands on a couple of occasions using the same kit as for earwigging on ATC.

Learned this morning that Artemis was Apollo's sibling. I missed out on any classics even as a Grammar school boy.

[DaveReidUK]

Caught the launch on NASA's YT channel.

Held my breath until the SRBs had separated ...

[ATNotts_2]

I am glad I was not the only one watching almost with trepidation. It felt strangely illogical but I suppose Challenger is hard wired in my mind. Despite that it really brought back memories from my childhood.

[schooner]

Originally Posted by DaveReidUK

Caught the launch on NASA's YT channel.

Held my breath until the SRBs had separated ...

Most annoyingly NASA’s YT coverage cut away from the ship when the SRBs were about to separate to a view of the onlookers looking up 🤦🏻‍♂️.

[Discorde]

Glad the launch went well. Best wishes to Artemis for the rest of the mission. I agree with the 'America at its best' comment.

I too watched a night Shuttle launch from a hotel in Orlando - lift off on TV, then watching the fiery exhaust trail through the window. Fantastic!

I'm old enough to remember as a kid watching Sputnik 1's booster as it overflew the UK. What a surprise! At school the booklet accompanying the BBC Science for Schools radio broadcasts featured on its cover a photo of a satellite from the USA's Project Vanguard. The assumption was that this would be the first satellite to be launched into orbit. But the Soviets beat them to it!

On the night of the Apollo 11 moon landing I was watching the live feed on the TV in a pub in Shaftesbury (England). I heard 'contact light' and so was first person there to realise that the landing was successful before it was announced by the commentators. What a moment! On the 50th anniversary the Times UK newspaper published this diagram summarising the mission.

[jez d]

A nice change to see some positive news headlining across the media this morning and bon voyage to the brave crew of Artemis II.

Sadly, not many pubs left in Shaftesbury to watch from, Disco, and their main focus these days is Sky Sports. Which one was it?

[B Fraser]

There's a bit of duplication here with the SLS thread. Perhaps a mod will do a merge.

What puzzles me is why the liquid stage is insulated. The Shuttle Orbiter was extremely vulnerable to ice shedding and flight 27 was almost lost due to a SRB nose cone shredding and ripping tiles off the Orbiter underside. The weight of the foam requires 9 times the mass of the propellant to get it up to the point at which the tank is discarded. The tank is unpainted in order to save weight, some 450kg being save on the Shuttle flights 3 and onwards. Given that the foam caused no end of issues and the vibration of launch is enough to shake the ice free in a few seconds, why is there a need for insulation ? Space X seem to do OK with their rockets.

[Jhieminga]

The foam caused issues because it struck something on several occasions. That something, the orbiter, is not in the way anymore. The reason for having insulation on the tank is simply to keep the propellant as cold as possible. The Falcon 9's rocket engine runs on LOX and RP-1, and that second part is a refined version of what we put in cars and aeroplanes. They have less to keep cold compared to the needs of the SLS, as that uses both LOX and liquid hydrogen. Without the insulation, you would boil off more propellant and you would need to keep pumping it in at a high rate. They still need to keep replenishing up until tank pressurisation, but at a much lower rate. That's my understanding of the system.

[TowerDog]

We saw the climb and acceleration from the backyard 80 miles north of the launch pad when the rocket flew towards us on a ENE heading
Quite spectacular but I had expected to hear a sonic boom after a minute or so but it was quiet.