- 12 hours ago
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00Welcome to Bloomberg Television, special coverage of Artemis 2, NASA's mission to take humans back to the moon for the
00:07first time in more than 50 years.
00:10We're now inside the final couple of minutes before liftoff here at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, where the Space Launch
00:17System rocket will carry four astronauts, three American and one Canadian,
00:21aboard Orion, the spacecraft, on a journey around the moon and back over the course of 10 days.
00:29This is a critical test flight. It's a dress rehearsal for NASA to prove with this system that it can
00:34launch humans into deep space and bring them home,
00:37as well as the systems that eventually NASA hopes will get Americans back onto the moon's surface as soon as
00:432028.
00:44At liftoff, SLS is going to generate more than 8.8 million pounds of frost, making it the most powerful
00:51human-rated rocket in operation.
00:54This is the mission. It is an accelerated timeline under a newer NASA administration.
01:00The stakes are high. The SLS developed by Boeing.
01:04The Orion capsule developed by Lockheed Martin and its space division.
01:09The launch abort system, the top of the combined entity developed by Norfolk Grumman.
01:16American companies, working with NASA, many of them locally here on the Space Coast, to bring this to fruition.
01:23But it is a project that is over budget and many years behind schedule.
01:28This is a big moment. America has a focus to return to the moon for the first time since the
01:35Apollo era and the 70s,
01:36more than 50 years since that time.
01:41We've had a few delays, but we're early in what is a two-hour launch window.
01:45It started at 6.24 Eastern time with the countdown now on. Let's listen in.
01:51Any holds that could come from the ground.
01:54Now, shortly after liftoff, Houston will take control of the rocket,
01:57and my colleague Gary Jordan will take over commentary.
02:02GLS, go for your left.
02:04Great call out. The rocket is on its own.
02:06Four brave explorers, ready to ride the most powerful rocket NASA has ever launched.
02:18Sound suppression water is flowing.
02:21And here we go.
02:2410, 9, 8, 7.
02:28RS-25 engines.
02:308, 4, 3, 2, 1.
02:34Booster ignition.
02:35And liftoff.
02:38The crew of Artemis II now bound for the moon.
02:41Humanity's next great voyage begins.
02:48Integrity, good. Roll pitch.
02:51Roger. Roll pitch.
02:55Houston now controlling the flight of Integrity on the Artemis II mission around the moon.
03:08On time passing 30 seconds to the flights.
03:12Integrity passes the alternate vehicle.
03:14Target milestone.
03:15Mission control Houston seeing good performance.
03:17Forming engines.
03:18Space launch system core stage.
03:20Integrity, 3 miles in altitude.
03:23Traveling more than 1,200 miles per hour.
03:45Mission elapsed time.
03:47Passing one minute.
03:48Approaching max Q.
03:50On, Ponce de Leon.
03:53Stand, we have you loud and clear on Ponce de Leon.
03:56Have you the same.
03:59Communication signal transfer confirmed as Integrity and its crew go supersonic.
04:04Approaching 90 seconds into the Artemis II mission.
04:07Integrity is 14 miles in altitude, 8 miles downrange.
04:10Traveling more than 2,600 miles per hour.
04:291 minute 50 seconds of mission elapsed time.
04:31Standing by for main engine throttle down to 85%.
04:34I had a solid rocket booster separation expected at the 2 minute, 9 second mark.
04:41We see throttle down.
04:49Confirmed separation.
04:50So we are through the T plus 2 minute mark of this Artemis II mission with Artemis II successfully
04:58lifting off from launch complex 39B here at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral.
05:06Throttle down to 85% power.
05:08Any moment, I'm not sure of the visuals that it will get, but the two side boosters will separate from
05:14the core.
05:15With the core continuing on the service module and then Orion on top of it into that lower Earth orbit.
05:23The other key moment, the 60 second mark, you were watching it on your screen, Max-Q, the moment of
05:29maximum aerodynamic pressure or stress on the vehicle.
05:33The four astronauts inside the Orion capsule.
05:37The crew, three Americans and one Canadian subject to two to three G's as they go through that lift and
05:44roll ascent process.
05:46We have a lot more to cover.
05:47There are some key milestones along the way of this special Bloomberg television coverage of Artemis II.
05:53And I'm joined here at the Kennedy Space Center by Bloomberg's Lauren Grush, chief space correspondent here at Bloomberg News.
06:02Where would you like to start?
06:04I mean, it's hard to describe what it feels like to watch one of these launches in person.
06:10You can feel the rumble in your chest.
06:13And this is one of the world's most powerful rockets.
06:17And so it really packed a punch.
06:18And you could hear the cheers of a successful launch here around the launch site.
06:24I mean, I'm sorry.
06:25I feel like I am a tad emotional just because there's nothing like seeing these things with your own two
06:30eyes.
06:30It reflects the emotion here on the ground.
06:32Thousands of media gathered, people from across the industry, hundreds if not thousands of NASA employees, people from Boeing, Lockheed
06:40Martin, Norfolk Grumman, all on site.
06:43We've just gone through the T plus four minute mark.
06:45And essentially, the G forces build up to around four G's.
06:49That's the experience of these crew and astronauts.
06:51Next, what we're looking for at about the eight minute, T plus eight minute mark is the main engine cutoff.
06:57That's when the crew inside that Orion capsule are going to start feeling weightlessness.
07:02And then thereafter, eight minutes, 18 seconds, there are thereabouts the core stage separation.
07:07Let's get back to Artemis II, the big picture with Bloomberg's Lauren Grush, our chief space correspondent.
07:12This is about returning humans to the moon for the first time more than 50 years.
07:18But in this case, not landing on the moon.
07:20Right.
07:20I like to call this an elaborate dress rehearsal for the moon landing that's to come.
07:25Yes, they won't be landing on the moon for this flight.
07:28They'll be slingshotting around the moon.
07:29But the point of this mission is to really test the safety and the efficacy of the SLS rocket that
07:36we just saw launch and the Orion crew capsule, which the crew is currently riding inside to orbit.
07:41And so they will be taking the Orion capsule around the moon and that will determine if it's ready to
07:48send humans onward onto a lunar landing.
07:51But of course, we do need those lunar landers, which are currently in development from both SpaceX and Blue Origin.
07:57There's a long road to get that done, but this is a really important milestone before that moon landing can
08:03take place.
08:04This is a 10-day mission.
08:06The first two days, approximately, are actually first spent at low-Earth orbit orbit and then higher-Earth orbit.
08:13And the idea, Lauren, as I understand it, is to test Orion's capabilities for future Artemis program missions.
08:20For example, manual control of the Orion capsule by the mission's pilot, its potential docking capabilities with the other players
08:29involved at a later stage.
08:31There's an almost elliptical orbit that takes place before you have that translunar injection.
08:37And I'm really hoping that you'll explain and define what translunar injection means and when it comes.
08:43I think the best explanation I can give is that big old boost you need to get to the moon.
08:48A translunar injection is an engine burn that Orion's main engine will do the second day into flight, so tomorrow
08:56night.
08:56And if that all goes well, that will send them on course to the moon.
09:00And it's really a matter of gravity at that point.
09:03So it will send them on this slingshot course around the moon.
09:07They won't go into lunar orbit.
09:09But essentially, it's kind of a dynamic dance between Earth and the moon's gravity that will then pull them around
09:15the moon and come back to Earth.
09:17So it really is a very key part of that mission.
09:20Right now, we're just waiting for them to get to orbit.
09:22There's still some steps in the way before that happens, but that will be a key moment of that mission
09:27when it comes.
09:27And the what to come next is main engine cutoff.
09:29About T-plus-8, 0-6, engines cut.
09:32That's when the crew starts to feel weightlessness.
09:35At 8 minutes, 18 seconds, that core stage separation where the service module combined with Orion continue in that initial
09:42phase.
09:42T-plus-9 to T-plus-14 minutes.
09:45Then you're looking at upper stage stabilization, a stable orbit, gathering up momentum and kinetic energy and speed, and the
09:52crew entering microgravity.
09:54The numbers speak for themselves.
09:56This is a total round trip of 685,000 miles.
10:01It is 250,000 miles to the far side of the moon, 4,000 miles off the moon's surface.
10:07But there's a bigger picture, Lauren Grush, and that is to, as early as 2028, land back on the moon.
10:12What comes next?
10:13Absolutely.
10:14So, well, just one thing I want to point out.
10:16They will be traveling 4,000 miles off of the lunar surface, but because they launched today, they will be
10:22breaking the record for the farthest that any humans have traveled into space, beating the current record set by the
10:27Apollo 13 crew.
10:28So that's something that's really momentous and something that they'll get to achieve if all goes well since they launched
10:33today.
10:34But, yes, you know, what comes next?
10:36Obviously, getting on the surface of the moon is the entire point.
10:39And so next, they will need to develop those landers that I was talking about, the SpaceX and Blue Origin
10:44landers.
10:45SpaceX is developing its Starship rocket, that massive rocket in South Texas that it's been testing periodically, and that will
10:52be their lunar lander that will potentially take humans to the surface of the moon.
10:56Blue Origin is also developing their own lander, Blue Moon, that will potentially take humans as well.
11:01And NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has said that whichever lander is ready first, that will be the one that does
11:09the first moon landing for the Artemis program.
11:11So there is a bit of a space race between already rivals, SpaceX and Blue Origin, and we'll be tracking
11:18that development along the way.
11:19But today is all about Artemis 2.
11:23No landing, but it's still an incredible moment.
11:25We haven't been to the moon in more than 50 years, so it's such an exciting day.
11:29Here on the ground at Kennedy Space Center, we've gone past T-plus-nine minutes.
11:33There is some latency, if I'm being honest with you, with the feed that NASA puts out and that you
11:38may see on your screen.
11:39But we've gone through main engine cutoff.
11:42We've gone to the point where the crew will now start to experience weightlessness.
11:45And then that core stage separation, where the core stage of the SLS, or space launch system, separates from what
11:52is a combined Orion and service module.
11:55Service module, by the way, contributed by Europe's space agency.
11:59There was something that I missed at the three-minute, 30-second mark.
12:02I apologize for that.
12:03But the launch abort system, which was basically the spike at the top of the combined SLS launch stack, was
12:12jettisoned.
12:13So that is now no longer a factor.
12:16This is all about testing that this works, Lauren.
12:19It is about Orion's capabilities as a spacecraft.
12:24Talk a little bit about that.
12:25Yeah, NASA really likes to have redundancy and to test before we're actually doing the riskiest maneuvers, which will be
12:34landing on the moon.
12:35In fact, that's why that NASA is actually adding more tests to the Artemis program.
12:40So before Jared Isaacman came on board, the plan was for after this launch, we would have gone straight to
12:47Artemis 3, which would have been a landing on the surface of the moon.
12:50But there was a lot of criticism about going straight from this mission straight to the landing mission without as
12:56many testing missions that we needed.
12:58And so Isaacman decided, you know what, we need to add a third mission that will make Artemis 3 actually
13:05a test where we'll send a crew into low Earth orbit to dock with lunar landers,
13:10either one or both of the ones that are being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
13:14And so we'll actually have another test mission after this one aimed for 2027, and that should test out the
13:22procedures that they will use to dock with landers.
13:24If that goes well and the landers are ready and they're hopeful that they can do a moon landing in
13:312028, but that's a tight turnaround.
13:34We're at T plus 11 minutes.
13:36We're at the stage where that upper stage, again, combined Orion capsule spacecraft with the service module is stabilized in
13:43its initial orbit.
13:45And the crew is in a kind of microgravity environment.
13:48I want to take a moment to talk about the crew.
13:50I'm not going to go through the bios extensively, but the commander, Reed Wiseman, former Navy test pilot, International Space
13:57Station veteran,
13:58former chief of the astronaut office at NASA.
14:00Victor Glover, the pilot, Navy aviator, has been to space and the crew on mission with SpaceX and will be
14:08the first black astronaut to travel the distance to the lunar distance.
14:12And Christina Kirk, mission specialist, has done 328 days on ISS, will be the first woman to go to the
14:19lunar distance.
14:19Finally, Jeremy Hansen of Canada, a Canadian fighter pilot and the first Canadian assigned to lunar mission.
14:25You and I have written a lot, Lauren, and spoken a lot today to the organs of government here in
14:31the United States.
14:31This is also about a race to the moon against China.
14:35Yes.
14:35So it depends on who you ask.
14:37But one of the main reasons that lawmakers and White House officials say that we need to be going back
14:44to the moon is because China also has its eyes set on the moon.
14:47They have their own space program and they hope to land humans on the surface of the moon by the
14:52end of the decade.
14:52And so there have been concerns raised about what that could mean if we don't get back there before them.
15:00I like to remind people that we were first, but we do want to get back there before them.
15:04And so the idea is that perhaps if China gets there first, they could maybe set up some kind of
15:09perimeter or prevent us from exploring the moon more fully than we would like.
15:14Obviously, that's an extreme hypothetical scenario and it hasn't been tested yet.
15:19But that is the idea that of why we need to get there and why there is such urgency to
15:24get back to the moon.
15:25We're in the last couple of minutes here of this special Bloomberg television coverage of Artemis 2, NASA's first mission
15:30for humans to return to the moon and around the moon and back.
15:34There is no lunar landing. But this program, which has its origins in the consolation program set up by the
15:41George W. Bush administration in 2005, is behind schedule and over budget.
15:46And I look at some of the documents out of NASA, Lauren, $4 billion per launch, $93 billion total program
15:53costs.
15:54Talk about that side of how Artemis has gone.
15:56Yeah, you really hit it. The origins of that rocket we just watched launch do have their, are traced back
16:05to the consolation program.
16:06This rocket has been in development now for over a decade. So has Orion.
16:12You know, in fact, originally the first launch of SLS and Orion was supposed to take place in 2017.
16:19And this particular launch actually was supposed to send astronauts to an asteroid.
16:25Obviously, there's been some reworking of the mission plan since then.
16:28And we've had a few years of delay in schedule.
16:31But now the moon has become the focus after President Trump signed an executive order during his first term that
16:38we should send humans back to the moon.
16:40This is a 10 day mission. Artemis 2 taking three Americans and one Canadian to the far side of the
16:47moon and back in a slingshot figure eight.
16:49We'll continue to cover it.
16:51This has been special coverage of Artemis 2 and this is Bloomberg.
Comments