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Horizon S63E01 Artemis To The Moon and Back
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00:10Four astronauts have just flown around the moon, on Artemis II.
00:15They traveled one million kilometers, going deeper into space than any humans have gone before.
00:23Wow.
00:24It's indescribable. There's no adjectives. I'm going to need to invent some new ones.
00:28They return to Earth at 32 times the speed of sound.
00:36Your Artemis II crew.
00:41For three and a half years, we've been filming behind the scenes of Artemis II,
00:48NASA's most important mission in half a century.
00:51I call it the arrogance of humanity.
00:53The fact that we think we can assemble machinery like this and launch it successfully,
00:59it just leaves you with a sense of awe.
01:02Three, two, one, launch.
01:07Sending astronauts to the moon and back is expensive, complex and dangerous.
01:14Space flight is risky. So what you try to do is minimize that risk.
01:20Everything has to happen perfectly. It's not about being hasty. It's about doing it right.
01:27The unexpected behavior of the heat shield poses a significant risk to the safety of future crewed missions.
01:37For the last decade, thousands of engineers have been working on the Artemis program.
01:43Building a rocket powered by liquid hydrogen that won't blow up at launch.
01:5190% of the entire mass that we've got is chemical energy.
01:55And we continually accelerate.
01:57Perfecting a capsule that can get back from the moon safely.
02:02Ready to test?
02:11Paving the way for astronauts to inhabit a permanent moon base.
02:16We are actually making science fiction a reality.
02:20And it's happening as we speak.
02:23At the dawn of a new space age, the pressure is on to go back to the moon.
02:30Five, four, three, two, one.
02:57Three and a half years before the launch of Artemis II, NASA launches Artemis I.
03:05A test flight to the moon and back without astronauts on board.
03:13There are things that we've done many times in sims.
03:16And we've done them many times in the lab.
03:20But in a tanked configuration at the pad, it was the first time.
03:28It is incredibly quiet in the room.
03:33Everybody is focused on their system.
03:36They're focused on the data.
03:40I mean, there's not a sound.
03:43It's the first flight of the Space Launch System, SLS.
03:50The rocket specially built for the Artemis program.
03:552.2 million kilograms of fuel have to ignite on cue to lift the rocket into space.
04:05Rockets are insanely complex vehicles.
04:09Everything has to go right for it to succeed.
04:12And if a single important thing goes wrong, the rocket blows up.
04:16I mean, it is the ultimate kind of pass-fail test.
04:19At this time, I give you a go to resume count and launch Artemis I.
04:29A huge crowd has come to watch the launch.
04:33Among them, some of the hundreds of engineers that have worked on the Artemis hardware.
04:39Three minutes.
04:40Less than three minutes from launching.
04:45In a few minutes, she's going to light up back there.
04:48She's one of these dots right there.
04:50There she is.
04:52Oh my gosh.
04:57I have been working with Artemis since 2012.
05:02So that is literally 10 years.
05:06A decade of my life has been dedicated to Artemis waiting for this moment.
05:13I'm just so beyond excited.
05:17Watching on are members of NASA's 50-strong astronaut corps.
05:23None of them yet knows who will be chosen to fly on Artemis II.
05:29Even when I finally got selected to be an astronaut, the moon seemed still incredibly far away.
05:35Now that we are actually starting to fly these missions, it's started to become real.
05:41And here we go, Penn.
05:46I got a bit of a, the hair on my arms stood up just a little bit as those final
05:52six seconds ticked off the countdown clock.
05:55Six, five, four stage engines start.
06:00And then the call, booster ignition and liftoff.
06:06Three, two, one.
06:08Liftoff of Artemis I.
06:18The waves rise together back to the moon and beyond.
06:25Wow.
06:27That is bright and that is falling off the path.
06:31It's really hard to, you can't even look at it.
06:33Yeah.
06:59It really works on that.
07:01Well, he works on that.
07:01Is it cool?
07:03Oh no.
07:04Oh, my God.
07:13Outstanding!
07:20It was...
07:22It was breathtaking.
07:33Good control on the roll. Teams in Mission Control, Houston. All good calls so far. Now 30 seconds into the
07:38flight of Artemis I.
07:41The SLS is a multi-stage rocket.
07:46Once each stage has done its job, it separates.
07:53The spacecraft becomes lighter, better able to accelerate away from Earth.
08:08Within two hours, all that remains are the crew and service modules, known as Orion, heading into deep space.
08:19It takes five days for Orion to reach the moon, where it settles into a distant lunar orbit, allowing mission
08:28controllers to test the flight systems of Artemis I.
08:36For me, one of the highlights was seeing the Earth pass behind the moon and disappear and then come out
08:44the other side.
08:47Eight billion people disappeared behind the only other place that humanity had ever been.
08:57I've had a different perspective every time I've looked at the moon since then.
09:02NASA's newest moon explorer is barreling its way back home after circumnavigating the moon and beyond.
09:11Returning from the moon, the capsule is traveling 7,000 miles per hour faster than if coming back from the
09:18International Space Station.
09:21As it hits the upper atmosphere, friction generates intense heat and super hot plasma, visible through the capsule window.
09:33The only protection from this inferno is a heat shield just four centimeters thick.
09:42Demonstrating the heat shield at lunar re-entry velocities was our number one priority.
09:48Because temperatures outside got half as high as the sun approaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
09:57When you come back from the moon, you're coming back at Mach 32 or 24,500 miles an hour.
10:03In fact, we came back at 24,581 miles an hour.
10:07We were 81 miles an hour over the speed limit.
10:10And there it is.
10:135,000 feet.
10:17Three good main chutes for Orion.
10:22Orion in the perfect orientation for splashdown.
10:30Splashdown.
10:35The idea for Artemis II is to go back to the moon, but this time with a crew of astronauts
10:42on board.
10:44They'll do a single wide loop, flying 7,000 kilometers beyond the moon.
10:49The furthest any humans have ever been into space.
10:55Before returning back to Earth.
10:59Artemis I was about testing the hardware, making sure that everything would work going to the moon and back.
11:04Now they're putting people on board.
11:06And people, of course, there is a sense of danger, a sense of trepidation.
11:10We need to keep the people safe.
11:12It just amps up the safety factor, right?
11:15With Artemis I, a failure would be bad, right?
11:18But it wouldn't have been catastrophic.
11:20If you lose the human crew on Artemis II, that is catastrophic.
11:23That calls into question the future of the whole Artemis program.
11:30It's a new era of pioneers, star sailors, and adventurers.
11:47With so much riding on the safety of the astronauts, NASA holds a stage-managed event to unveil the crew
11:55of Artemis II.
11:56She's no stranger to breaking records, logging the longest continuous space flight ever by a woman.
12:05Your mission specialist, Christina Hammock Koch.
12:11I am someone who has loved exploration since I was little.
12:19I used to be inspired by the night sky, and I loved things that made me ponder the size of
12:25the universe, my place in it, and everything that was out there to explore.
12:30He's an F-18 pilot and a Canadian astronaut.
12:35Jeremy Hansen!
12:37I was interested in aviation as a young child.
12:41And I specifically remember coming across a picture of a human standing on the moon, and it still burnt in
12:49my brain.
12:49And so this really is full circle for me, going to the moon.
12:54He's a naval aviator that's flown over 40 different aircraft.
13:00Victor Glover!
13:04I have fantasized about stepping on the moon. It's my dream.
13:09They call things moonshots when people accomplish something amazing.
13:15It's our generation's opportunity to have our own literal moonshot.
13:21He's a decorated test pilot and leader of the highest character.
13:28Reed Wiseman!
13:31Our boss at the time set up a fake meeting over at the quarantine facility.
13:36I dial in, and as soon as I dialed in, and I saw the director of flight operations, I was
13:41like, oh, this is not any normal meeting.
13:43And then they went into, would you like to fly on Artemis II?
13:47And that's kind of the way they always do it, with a question, and no one's ever going to answer
13:51no.
13:53Your Artemis II crew!
14:00We know you can run, man. You went up those stairs.
14:08These will be the first humans to fly to the moon since December 1972.
14:14Apollo 17.
14:16Derek, can you read me?
14:17Yeah.
14:19Hello, Houston.
14:20Uh, 17, loud and clear.
14:24Hippity-hoppity, hippity-hoppity, hippity-hopping over hill and hill.
14:31Artemis intrinsically builds on the legacy of Apollo.
14:35We stand on the shoulders of giants, and we've learned so much in human exploration.
14:40But, of course, returning to the moon when we haven't done that for over 50 years, we are looking back
14:45to Apollo.
14:46We're making those comparisons.
14:49My golly, this time goes fast.
14:52Apollo was clearly a program designed to demonstrate U.S. superiority in technology compared to the Soviet Union.
15:00And it was successful in that, and then once they completed that task, they shut it down, because it cost
15:05a lot of money, and every time they launched, there was a 10 or 15 percent chance that the crew
15:10would not come back safely.
15:13Over the course of three and a half years, the Apollo program completed a total of six lunar landings, at
15:23a cost equivalent to $280 billion today.
15:32We leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.
15:44If you look at NASA's budget in the 1960s, at its peak, it was drawing down 5 percent of the
15:51federal budget.
15:51NASA's budget today is 0.5 percent, so 10 times less, or one-tenth of what it was back in
15:59the 1960s.
16:00And NASA is sort of building the Artemis program within that budget.
16:16Despite having much less money, the long-term ambition for Artemis far exceeds that of Apollo.
16:25rather than landing astronauts for a few days at a time, the goal is to establish a permanent moon base.
16:35A stepping stone to explore Mars and the rest of the solar system.
16:48Although Artemis 2 won't land on the moon, Victor Glover is part of the team prepping for future missions,
16:55when astronauts will set foot again on the lunar surface.
17:00All right, you guys ready to go in the water?
17:04Give you two ready.
17:05Copy that.
17:07Today's task is to simulate a moonwalk.
17:10Underwater.
17:12Testing the new spacesuit being developed for lunar exploration.
17:19Glover is familiar with the sensation of being weightless,
17:23having carried out four spacewalks at the International Space Station.
17:29But this is different.
17:32On the moon, there is gravity, but it's six times weaker than on Earth.
17:39Anything that, say, weighs 100 pounds on Earth would weigh one-sixth that on the moon's surface.
17:47Also, the suit itself is filled with air, and air is buoyant.
17:51So you're inside of a balloon at the bottom of the pool, and you have to add weight to it
17:55in specific places such that you don't do a flip, for instance, as soon as you start to, you know,
18:01outstretch your arms or start to walk around.
18:05Hey, Victor, I'm just going to suggest you use this time to exercise the joints of the suit just to
18:11get a feel for how those move.
18:15As you kneel down, you're not only balancing and holding up your weight, you're also moving a big suit that
18:22only bends in certain places.
18:24And so that joint wants to move my leg a certain way, and so I had to take my time
18:29and let the suit move, let my body move.
18:32But it was good.
18:38Approaching the moon's surface.
18:47On the same day, India lands an uncrewed spacecraft on the moon, the first successful landing at the lunar south
18:56pole.
19:00The Vikram is India's lander that they attempted to get on the surface of the moon today.
19:05And so I actually was going to jump out of the pool and go check my phone to see if
19:08they were successful.
19:09I'm hearing that they were, but I haven't read the news myself yet.
19:13They were.
19:14Awesome.
19:14Well, congratulations to India.
19:16That's a big accomplishment, major.
19:20A rover rolls out of the Vikram lander and starts exploring the south pole.
19:28This is the same area of the moon being targeted by NASA for future Artemis missions.
19:37During the Apollo program, each landing was at a different site, clustered around the lunar equator.
19:45The plan for all future Artemis missions is to land near the south pole.
19:52This part of the moon has deep craters where the sun never shines.
19:57They're thought to contain huge deposits of water in the form of ice.
20:03Where you have ice, you have the ability to melt that and provide drinking water clearly for habitation modules, but
20:10also then the potential to split that water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, which can be used for atmosphere and
20:18it can also be used for potential rocket fuel.
20:22With other countries eyeing up the same real estate, NASA needs to get its astronauts to the moon as soon
20:29as possible and stake its own claim to the lunar south pole.
20:35Isn't it time to get a move on?
20:36We are getting a move on.
20:38Trust me.
20:38We are whipping the ponies and you don't want to run too fast, right?
20:41It's not about being hasty.
20:43It's about doing it right.
20:44And like I said, I'm not in a rush.
20:46We had a saying in Navy test flying.
20:47If you want it bad, you get it bad.
20:49And in these spacecraft, everything has to happen perfectly.
20:52We got a lot of things that have to go perfectly to get us to the moon and back safely.
20:56So for Artemis 2, I want it to go at the pace that it needs to go.
20:59And that's going to be the best thing that we can do to ensure Artemis 3 is a success.
21:04Or whatever mission we actually put humans on the surface of the moon.
21:10At over 3,000 sites across the US and in Europe, engineers are developing hardware for the Artemis 2 mission.
21:22They're building a rocket capable of sending astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era.
21:35That rocket is the Space Launch System, SLS.
21:40Its huge core stage contains the fuel tanks and main engines.
21:48Alongside are two solid fuel boosters to provide extra thrust at launch.
21:54Above is the upper stage and then the service module that power the vehicle in space.
22:02And finally, the Orion crew module, which will carry the astronauts to the moon.
22:15NASA rockets have been designed and engineered here at Marshall Space Flight Center.
22:22Out of this center will come the vehicles that will carry the United States into outer space.
22:35The challenge for any rocket engineer is to balance the rocket equation.
22:42Which determines the ratio of fuel to mass to thrust needed for a successful launch.
22:51Physics doesn't read PowerPoint. It doesn't read our reports. It doesn't care about any of that.
22:56So the rocket equation is simply a representation of the physical requirements to cheat gravity.
23:03The tyranny of the rocket equation is that heavy rockets require more fuel.
23:09But more fuel makes rockets heavier, requiring even more fuel.
23:16A fully loaded SLS weighs 2.6 million kilograms, of which 2.3 million is fuel.
23:25Ninety percent of the entire mass that we've got is chemical energy.
23:28And a good bit of the rest of that mass is actually structure to hold that chemical energy.
23:35We're going from zero velocity, setting on the launch pad, to 32,000 feet per second.
23:42That's an incredible energy ride.
23:45So we continually accelerate.
23:49So this is like no other kind of atmospheric machine.
23:52It's not like airplanes. It's not like cars. We don't get to a cruising speed and stop.
23:56And so we designed for every iteration that could occur between liftoff and orbit.
24:09The rocket's journey into space is another engineering challenge.
24:14At Marshall, they still test aerodynamics using a wind tunnel, built during the Apollo era.
24:23By inserting a scale model of the SLS into the tunnel, and blowing air over it,
24:29it's possible to analyze the forces acting on the rocket,
24:33as it accelerates through Earth's atmosphere, on its way into space.
24:41This is 25,000 to 50,000 feet, and air molecules pile up on each other,
24:46and they create a very dense layer of air, and so that's what we call a shockwave.
24:51And so once we get supersonic, we'll see these all over the vehicle.
24:57That dictates our stability and our control system,
25:00and this gives us all the data that we need in order to control the rocket.
25:07Such data can be used to plot every second of the journey,
25:12ensuring the smoothest and safest ride into orbit.
25:17There's a joke around Marshall Space Flight Center that,
25:20in God we trust, everybody else bring data.
25:32On the outskirts of New Orleans,
25:35Artemis II has gone from its design phase into assembly.
25:4465 metres long, the core stage of the SLS
25:47is the largest single rocket section NASA has ever built.
25:57When you see SLS, you think scale.
26:00You do not understand scale until you go see that thing in real life.
26:07I call it the arrogance of humanity.
26:09The fact that we think we can assemble machinery like this
26:13and launch it successfully, it just leaves you with a sense of awe.
26:18Three, two, one.
26:24The core stage contains two massive aluminium fuel tanks,
26:29which at launch will be filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
26:35liquid hydrogen generates more thrust than any other rocket fuel.
26:41But its molecules are so light and loosely packed together,
26:45they require more storage space than any other fuel.
26:52That's why the core stage is so large.
26:58Liquid hydrogen is the rocket fuel of choice,
27:01and you can see why.
27:02It packs a punch.
27:03It will get people to the moon.
27:05But it is incredibly hard to handle.
27:10It needs to be kept at temperatures of minus 250 Celsius.
27:15The fuel lines, the tank itself,
27:18everything has to be kept at that temperature
27:20or the liquid hydrogen will start to evaporate, to expand.
27:26Now imagine if your liquid hydrogen starts expanding in the tank,
27:30the tank will explode.
27:31And so everything has to be kept at that low, low temperature
27:34so that everything stays in its liquid form.
27:39The space shuttle also used liquid hydrogen as a fuel source.
27:45But encountered so many problems,
27:47that 60% of all its launches had to be postponed.
27:53The worry is, the same thing will happen with Artemis.
28:01Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower.
28:07NASA knows only too well how dangerous liquid hydrogen can be at launch.
28:13Normal throttles for most of the flight, 104%.
28:17Challenger, go with throttle up.
28:20Challenger, go with throttle up.
28:27With the Challenger space shuttle,
28:30a rupture of the fuel tank caused liquid hydrogen to ignite.
28:34Catastrophically.
28:36Obviously a major malfunction.
28:39Taking the lives of seven astronauts.
28:47The core stage of the SLS is transported 1,500 kilometres by barge
28:53to Kennedy Space Centre, from where it will eventually launch.
28:59On arrival, it's taken to the Vehicle Assembly Building,
29:03the largest single-storey building in the world.
29:09The head of NASA, Bill Nelson, is taking a look for himself.
29:15That core stage packs a big punch.
29:218.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
29:27In those four engines right there.
29:30By the way, those engines were the same engines that were on the space shuttle.
29:38But instead of throwing them away, we're using them.
29:47Rather than inventing a new engine,
29:49NASA was mandated by Congress to recycle and update the RS-25 engines
29:56that had previously powered the space shuttle.
30:02Developed in the 1970s to deliver maximum thrust from liquid hydrogen fuel,
30:07they were known as the Ferrari of rocket engines.
30:15The space shuttle main engines were great engines.
30:19Really miraculous.
30:20But it turns out if you want an affordable space program,
30:24you don't want to be launching Ferraris in space,
30:26especially if, like, you drive it one time and the car goes away.
30:29You know, you want a Toyota that you can drive again and again and again and again,
30:33and that's really kind of been the big change.
30:36While the shuttle was designed to be reusable,
30:39the SLS is a single-use rocket.
30:43Each RS-25 engine will be flown only once and then discarded.
30:51A disposable engine at a premium price.
30:56If you total up all the money that NASA is spending,
30:59the cost of the single RS-25 engine is between 100 and 140 million US dollars.
31:09SpaceX is building a comparable Raptor engine for $500,000, half a million.
31:21Having committed to the RS-25 engines,
31:25NASA is unable to use new and cheaper options,
31:28currently being developed by the commercial space sector.
31:37Congress basically told NASA that it's going to use contracts,
31:42workforce systems from previous programs.
31:47It wanted to try and save some money,
31:49probably save some of that expertise.
31:52And so, until Congress says NASA can move away from this,
31:57which isn't until at least Artemis 5,
31:59NASA's going to keep flying SLS without reusable engines.
32:06At the top of the spacecraft sits the Orion capsule, which carries the crew.
32:12Inside, there's nine cubic metres of space,
32:15the same as a medium-sized camper van.
32:20But before it can go to the Moon,
32:22it needs to be certified ready to fly.
32:30To do this, engineers are running post-flight tests on the returned capsule from Artemis 1.
32:41They start by shaking the capsule,
32:44blasting it with extreme noise,
32:49200 times more intense than a jet engine,
32:54simulating the most extreme vibrations that might occur during a mission.
33:04The focus is on the forward bay cover, the yellow cap at the top of the capsule,
33:10which needs to eject on re-entry,
33:13so the parachutes can deploy and the capsule can slow down and land safely.
33:21It's critical that this mechanism works properly on Artemis 2.
33:26It takes less than a second for the pyros or explosives to separate that cover,
33:32but it takes months to plan, months to make sure that everything is set up.
33:37Like, we're looking here at a catch system,
33:39so the forward bay cover will go into that net,
33:43the bungee cords then will keep a tension so it stays in that,
33:46and then we have very high-speed photogrammetry cameras
33:50that are set up with extremely bright lights that are focused on the hardware
33:55so the engineers can analyze it and see if all the systems are performing as expected.
34:01If any wires or bolts have come loose from the shaking,
34:05the forward bay cover could malfunction,
34:09forcing engineers to rethink the design of the capsule.
34:13and then we have to do it.
34:15Ready to test?
34:17All right.
34:19Let's go test.
34:23Testing does end up requiring more time to be put into the design development process of spacecraft,
34:32but it's necessary.
34:35At both the component level and all the way up to the entire system level.
34:40That's how we fly spacecraft safely.
34:45On my mark, I'll fire FPC Pyros.
34:51Three...
34:54Two...
34:56One...
34:57One...
35:01One...
35:02Two...
35:13One...
35:14The forward bay cover has detached cleanly.
35:17The capsule's design has passed its test.
35:24But all is not well with Orion.
35:34When Artemis I splashed down, the mission was hailed as a great success.
35:40But in reality, there were problems with the capsule.
35:45As it was hauled onto the recovery ship, it was quickly examined by engineers.
35:51Their biggest concern, the heat shield.
35:55How was it affected by the intense heat of re-entry?
36:01Fitted to the underside of the capsule, the heat shield is built from Avcote,
36:07an epoxy resin developed in the 1960s for the Apollo program.
36:13The tiles are meant to melt and vaporize, taking heat away from the capsule.
36:21But it didn't work out like that.
36:27It takes 16 months for the state of the heat shield to become public knowledge.
36:33This report caused quite a stir when it came out.
36:36It makes some pretty sort of damning claims, really.
36:41What I'm looking at here especially is the pictures of the Orion heat shield.
36:46What you can see is sort of cavities and some burn marks on these areas.
36:51And it is pretty scary because this was a technology that is going to be used to get people to
36:57the moon.
36:58And yet there is this degradation.
37:02And the Inspector General actually says,
37:05In our judgement, the unexpected behaviour of the heat shield poses a significant risk to the safety of future crewed
37:12missions.
37:13And sort of having something like that written in a report means a response is needed.
37:20Something has to change because this sort of charring of the heat shield could risk human life.
37:27The material is ablative, so it sort of burns away slowly and you expect that.
37:32But you didn't expect chunks of it to fall away like they did.
37:40When you see something that anomalous on a critical system like the heat shield where there is no backup, then
37:46that really raises your concerns.
37:51It looks like you can see pieces of the shuttle coming off.
37:58Columbia, Houston, UHF comm check.
38:03Columbia, Houston, UHF comm check.
38:10The risk of an accident at re-entry is well known to NASA.
38:15In 2003, damaged heat tiles led to the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia.
38:23As with Challenger, seven astronauts lost their lives.
38:30The space shuttle had two major disasters and 14 astronauts died.
38:35That has weighed heavily on NASA, on America.
38:39And it's definitely something that has affected this mission and other human space flight missions.
38:45NASA launches a formal investigation into what went wrong with the heat shield and how best to proceed with the
38:53mission.
38:58Seven months later, the agency announces its conclusions.
39:05We've conducted expansive testing, including analyzing samples from the heat shield.
39:14And now we know the root cause.
39:19Blame is focused on the skip-entry maneuver, used for the first time on Artemis 1, to slow the spacecraft
39:27down as it entered Earth's atmosphere.
39:31This is a technique we use coming back from the moon, because the velocity is much greater than coming back
39:39from low Earth orbit.
39:42They were trying a different re-entry procedure, a skip-entry.
39:48So that's where the spacecraft dips into the Earth's atmosphere once.
39:54Then it creates a small amount of lift.
39:57It exits the Earth's atmosphere.
39:59And then it comes back in a second time for the re-entry.
40:04Doing that skip maneuver meant that layers of gas were trapped inside the heat shield.
40:10So when it came into Earth's atmosphere for the second time, those gases had to escape.
40:15And that caused cracking and chunks of the heat shield to come off.
40:22NASA decides to keep the existing design of heat shield for Artemis 2,
40:29but to ditch the double-dip skip-entry.
40:34Instead, Artemis 2 will make what engineers call a ballistic entry.
40:39With a single, steeper profile.
40:42As if the capsule has been fired like a bullet from a gun.
40:49But will it work?
40:52We don't know.
40:53I mean, engineering, the models, all the modeling suggests it will work.
40:59But all of that data suggested that with the skip re-entry on Artemis 1, there wouldn't be heat shield
41:05loss.
41:08This is a compromise.
41:10They're keeping the existing heat shield because to design a new one would take an awful long time.
41:14But with all space missions, there is a risk.
41:18They've mitigated the risk as much as possible, but there is still always that risk that there could be a
41:24catastrophic failure and loss of life.
41:30We'll be nervous coming in.
41:32You can't be not nervous.
41:34But you trust the architecture, you trust the engineering, and it's going to work out.
41:48With the launch now scheduled for spring 2026, the astronauts spend time in the Orion simulator, practicing every step of
41:58the mission.
41:59Launch in 10 seconds if you're syncing your watches.
42:03starting with launch five four three two one
42:12all right we're in the air there is a lot of training if we were to boil it all down
42:20we could
42:20probably get it done in under a year but we are also flying this vehicle for the first time so
42:24we do need to spend a lot more time than the next crew will have to spend on just all
42:30of the what
42:30ifs six minutes 30 seconds so for nikos in 90 seconds i would say 90 of the training we have
42:39done we provided feedback where we could cut it down we could shorten this we could focus on these
42:44important aspects shut down in three two one
42:52we're road testing the training we're road testing the preparation towards launch we're
42:56road testing all that that's our job there is no substitute for preparation there's no substitute
43:02for having an intimate knowledge of what you're doing and what that allows you to do is generate
43:07options when things go wrong as we say in the military you train hard you fight easy
43:14i often get asked why put people in space we have robotic missions we have ai
43:20why have humans what is the pressure that makes you worry we couldn't recharge the n2
43:25to me they are critical because they are literally the eyes and the ears of the mission
43:33on the artemis 2 mission the astronauts aren't going to do much flying they're going to do some
43:39demonstrations but that's not essential orion could fly itself to around the moon but
43:44in emergencies you do want humans flying that's what they trained for
43:52a huge rocket that will carry nasa's first crewed moon mission in more than half a century has begun
43:58its journey to the launch pad in florida artemis 2 may blast off as early as next month on a
44:0610-day trip
44:16around the moon
44:16now this is the start of a very long journey we ended our last human exploration of the moon
44:24in apollo 17 the 17th mission and i hope someday my kids are going to be watching maybe decades into
44:30the future the artemis 100 mission we should be able to undertake repeatable affordable missions to
44:38and from the moon the sls rocket slowly rolls out to the launch pad top speed 0.8 miles an
44:48hour
44:49you four are about to fly farther into space than any humans have ever flown
44:54but how are you training your families as you get ready to leave them behind on earth
45:01trying to train them honestly and openly with my kids i told them here's where the will is here's
45:07where the trust documents are and if anything happens to me here's what's going to happen to you
45:10it's our families that we think about the most on launch day
45:13after 12 hours the rocket arrives at its destination launch pad 39b
45:27but in february it has to roll back again into the vehicle assembly building
45:34engineers have discovered two problems a hydrogen leak and a helium leak
45:46the rocket has been repaired by march the rocket has been repaired and it rolls out again
45:54nasa sets a new launch date 1st of april 2026
46:03about nine hours prior to liftoff we'll wake up they're going to take our temperature our
46:08weight our blood pressure once that's complete it's time to go start getting dressed and we'll go
46:13into the suit room they'll leak check us make sure our suit holds pressure
46:21and then when that's complete when you wait until it's time to walk out
46:35from the moment that you walk out to go out to the launch pad you're on this extremely choreographed timeline
46:46the spacecraft awaits its crew
46:51as you get out to the pad you can look all the way up and see the top of the
46:54rocket
46:54it's full of fuel so it'll be venting it'll be cold it'll be alive and we are just teeny tiny
47:03specks
47:10we'll get in an elevator we'll ride that elevator up to the 274 level and we walk down the gantry
47:17to the
47:18white room put on our helmet put on our gloves make sure we look good from head to toe and
47:22then one at
47:23a time we'll go into the orion and start getting strapped in the crew has given their capsule a nickname
47:33integrity it'll be their home for the next 10 days of the mission
47:43we are now under an hour from the opening of our two-hour launch window at 6 24 pm eastern
47:51time
47:52rocket science has hundreds or thousands of things that all have to go
47:56just right it all has to be perfect the rocket has to launch within this window
48:01if it doesn't launch in this window it can't go today
48:08you get to t minus 10 minutes 10 minutes to go in the countdown
48:12they'll pause it there for about 30 minutes they'll go through and ask basically everyone
48:16if they're part of the rocket or the spacecraft is good to go mco
48:20geos go houston flight houston flight is good if there's a reading out of bounds during that time
48:28then the countdown will be stopped and the launch will be scrubbed for the day
48:32artemis 2 crew is go for launch i copy that good luck godspeed artemis 2 let's go
48:4210 9 8 7 rs 25 inches hit four three two one booster ignition and lift off
49:06the crew of artemis 2 now bound for the moon
49:12humanity's next great voyage begins
49:39the rocket powers its way into orbit
49:43the rocket as designed by the engineers at marshall spaceflight center
49:51confirmed separation
49:55now passing 5 000 miles per hour
50:00houston integrity good last jettison great deal
50:04the integrity and nominal nico core stage separated
50:12all right it was really great to look out the window and see the full moon off the front of
50:18the vehicle there's no doubt where we are heading right now all right signing off
50:24it's great to see you all waves and we are really enjoying seeing you up there
50:28not as much as we're enjoying being here that is true
50:36the spacecraft is being monitored by mission control in houston
50:41it's now traveling into deep space heading for the moon
50:49we know that there was some talk about some burnt um smell when they from the heaters so
50:56we just thought we'd check in with you we're continuing to look at that jeremy hansen is the
51:01only one who hasn't been to space before the rest of them they have an idea of how to move
51:05their bodies in space but it's different for each person on how long it takes to get used to it
51:10and if they get motion sick or not so there's just a lot that will be going on during this
51:15mission
51:17your body is being bombarded by galactic cosmic rays and actually we see that as astronauts when
51:24we're falling asleep you close your eyes and before you actually drop off you'll see several flashes
51:31like bright streaks of light going across your eye and you know that that's a high energy particle
51:37striking the back of your retina it's quite pretty to look at but it's it's not when you realize the
51:42damage that that could be doing to your body and that could cause some form of cancer
51:53good morning houston from inside on day six integrity reaches the moon
52:04the crew will do a seven hour flyby capturing high quality images of the lunar surface going
52:12further from earth than any crew has gone before but first they want to name a crater located at the
52:23western edge of the moon's near side a number of years ago we started this journey in our close-knit
52:30astronaut family and we lost a loved one her name was carol the spouse of reed the mother of katie
52:40and ellie
52:41and we would like to call it carol and you spell that c-a-r-r-o-l-l
53:01on the ground the science team are receiving live reports
53:05as the astronauts fly by the moon observing different geological features
53:12i think copernicus is the easternmost feature that we can see a very nice uh ring to the north
53:19and the south is with a lot of terrain uh shadow features
53:25we are getting a sneak preview from one of our saw cameras that what you're looking at and we see
53:31some
53:31of what you're describing we love it
53:37the artemis 2 crew has been trained to observe the moon to find significant features
53:44as a spacecraft goes around the moon an astronaut can look at a spot from different angles it might
53:49take a spacecraft years to have that trajectory where they can see all those angles
53:54something i've never seen in photographs before but it's very apparent all the new craters some of
54:00them are super tiny there's a couple that really stand out obviously and they are so bright compared
54:07to the rest of the men the flyby ends with a final flourish
54:19a total solar eclipse seen for the first time from space
54:25the sun has gone behind the moon and the corona is still visible and it creates a halo almost
54:34around the entire moon but when you get to the earth side the earth shine has already shown and the
54:39moon is just hanging in front of us uh this uh black orb out in front of us uh wow
54:47it's amazing
54:47it's amazing no matter how long we look at this our brains are not processing this image in front of
54:56us there's no adjectives i'm going to need to invent some new ones to describe what we are looking at
55:01out
55:02this window
55:16after nine days in space artemis 2 is coming home
55:23re-entry i think is probably the most critical part of the mission
55:27you can see the reflection of one of the crew members in the window
55:32you're testing the orion heat shield which had some failure during artemis one
55:37so that's i think in terms of pucker factor for me that re-entry will be the highest part
55:45with the heat shield i am optimistic but there's no getting around it it is a time of trepidation
55:52and it is one of those moments where you you wish them godspeed
55:58and we have crossed the threshold now entering the earth's atmosphere
56:03we're in the final stretch here our last 13 minutes
56:06and they're about to lose communications too it'll be a six minute blackout
56:15as predicted we've had our communications blackout
56:19no voice no data from the crew
56:23this is a visualization of the plasma buildup around the spacecraft and the repelling of that heat on
56:30integrity's heat shield
56:38so that pinpoint of light shows the vehicle
56:42the first tug of gravity being felt by integrity's astronauts
56:48we're getting intermittent views
56:52still waiting to establish voice communication
56:57integrity houston com check post blackout
57:06huston integrity we have you loud and clear
57:09big cheers from the viewing room here in mission control as
57:13voice communication re-established with commander reid wiseman
57:16we see three good-looking parachutes
57:45the first crew member is out of integrity
57:48so if we do this right we'll look back on artemis 2 and barely remember it
57:55you know we have celebrated the apollo program for 50 years and we've been constantly looking back
58:00and so what we want to do is actually look forward
58:05my hope is that this is just the beginning of of not artemis 3 4 5 but artemis 30 50
58:11and then you have a growing community on the moon potentially on mars throughout the solar system
58:20that's what we're working toward now now will we get there
58:24i'm hopeful but i'm not certain the next mission will be a test flight in low earth orbit
58:33but the plan for artemis 4 is to land on the moon
58:39sometime in 2028
58:47self-confessed charity shopaholic joanna page is perfectly placed to shift the thrift
58:53watch now on iplayer the moonwalking grinds to a halt for michael jackson next on bbc 2
58:59an american tragedy continues
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