Humans Return to the Moon: ARTEMIS II – April 6, 2026 - 53 YEARS SINCE | MEGA THREAD

[Lucasxp64]

They are RIGHT NOW on the way to the moon, they will reach it for a flyby tomorrow (April 6, 2026).

In this mission they will do a lunar flyby with humans for the first time since the last Apollo mission, it has been about 53 years ever since.

The most powerful rocket NASA has ever lunched in history, slightly more powerful than Apollo's mission Saturn V rockets, but much more reliable and safer. They had done this same mission without humans onboard in November 16, 2022.

It uses the European Union Agency service module, which provides propulsion, electricity, thermal control, and life support essentials for NASA's Orion spacecraft. Orion is the whole vehicle: the crew module on top where the astronauts live, and the European Service Module underneath that powers and sustains it. Together they make Orion capable of flying humans beyond low Earth orbit, something no spacecraft has done since Apollo.

This flyby mission is a big step before new missions that will actually land. Artemis II proves the rocket, the spacecraft, and the systems with humans onboard. Once they do a flyby around the Moon tomorrow, it will mark the return of humans to lunar space after more than half a century, opening the door for Artemis III to put boots back on the surface.

This is the first time a women and a black person (that guy there) will reach lunar orbit, and it's the furthest that they ever went away from earth.

- Main page (With live streams): https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

- Watch their location in real-time: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis-ii/arow/

- Best photos (gets updated): https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/journey-to-the-moon/

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 53 minutes ago by Lucasxp64

[Lucasxp64]

I'm completely baffled that very few people in this forum are talking about it, excluding another one 4 days ago. When it comes to recent news, most are still just posting war and trump shenanigans. This is a mission of historical proportions of the future of mankind in space, at least the technical feasibility of using modern day safety standard for moon missions with humans onboard. The Apollo missions were brutal, they were barely surviving.

 

 

Edited 20 hours ago by Lucasxp64

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

It'a definitely interesting, but I don't envy the first colonizers of the latter phases of this project, and the ones participating in the subsequent colonization of Mars. Technology we currently have at our disposal do allow us to survive but it's not going to be no five-star Michelin hotel restaurant level of luxury. Every resource will need to be utilized and no waste will be allowed

[Apparition of Jack]

1 hour ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

It'a definitely interesting, but I don't envy the first colonizers of the latter phases of this project, and the ones participating in the subsequent colonization of Mars. Technology we currently have at our disposal do allow us to survive but it's not going to be no five-star Michelin hotel restaurant level of luxury. Every resource will need to be utilized and no waste will be allowed

Meh. In the Renaissance era people braved rat-filled ships and hostile foreign lands in order to push human knowledge forward. During the Middle Ages people would leave their homeland for years, even decades at a time across unknown regions, often through dangerous territory and with harsh travel conditions in order to learn more about the world.

No doubt it would be physically hard but the knowledge you’re taking part in leading humanity to the next step would be a huge motivator for countless people imo. What better way to spend your one lifetime on earth than to chart the stars and open humanity up for space colonisation? 

Edited 3 hours ago by Apparition of Jack

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

58 minutes ago, Apparition of Jack said:

Meh. In the Renaissance era people braved rat-filled ships and hostile foreign lands in order to push human knowledge forward. During the Middle Ages people would leave their homeland for years, even decades at a time across unknown regions, often through dangerous territory and with harsh travel conditions in order to learn more about the world.

No doubt it would be physically hard but the knowledge you’re taking part in leading humanity to the next step would be a huge motivator for countless people imo. What better way to spend your one lifetime on earth than to chart the stars and open humanity up for space colonisation? 

I can see some parralels in those comparisons, yet this is not so much about discovery the way it's been for the pre-industrial revolution people. We know exactly where we're going, how to get there and what to do once we get there. It'll be a claustrophobic sucky kind of experience, you'll be in the same spaces, seeing the same people for months/years/indefinitely (depending on what mission we're talking about)

[CARDOZZO]

17 hours ago, Lucasxp64 said:

I'm completely baffled that very few people in this forum are talking about it, excluding another one 4 days ago. When it comes to recent news, most are still just posting war and trump shenanigans. This is a mission of historical proportions of the future of mankind in space, at least the technical feasibility of using modern day safety standard for moon missions with humans onboard. The Apollo missions were brutal, they were barely surviving.

100%

The majority of people on the forum are anti-science or spiritual to discuss scientific matters.

They don't enjoy it or see it as sloppy falsehood.

Edited 2 hours ago by CARDOZZO

[Lucasxp64]

 

Official live of the approach

 

 

 

The left in this image can't be seen from earth, that's from where they are doing the approach I believe:

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Lucasxp64

[Lucasxp64]

OH MY GOD. THEY ARE ALREADY PAST THE POSITION OF THE MOON'S ORBIT AROUND EARTH

 

[Nemo28]

This is really exciting! In a way I feel like I'm with them on the spaceship. Drifting in this vast, lonely, empty black space, alone together, guided by a vaster intelligence. 

[Nemo28]

@Lucasxp64the view of the moon looks fantastic!

[Lucasxp64]

HOLY SHIT within 2 minutes they will break Apollo record of the furthest any humans have ever gone!

Edited 17 minutes ago by Lucasxp64

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I'd probably be more stoked if it wasn't literaly happening right in our backyard lol. But lunar station is going to be very usefull to us, no doubt about that. Mars missions are going to be much more interesting to me though

[Eskilon]

Im out of the loop, so enlighten me a little -- why can't they walk on the moon again like they supposedly did back in the 60s? Money problems, tech?

[Lucasxp64]

10 minutes ago, Eskilon said:

Im out of the loop, so enlighten me a little -- why can't they walk on the moon again like they supposedly did back in the 60s? Money problems, tech?

They will. But it's more of a test mission to make sure we can make the travel safely. We already did this same mission in 2022 but fully unmanned. NASA likes to take its time those days to make things safe. They have plans for new missions that will land on their timeline before 2030.

Any time now within a minute they are breaking officially the record of the furthest humans have ever gone.

Edited 16 minutes ago by Lucasxp64