Artemis missions

Astronauts strapped in for historic moon mission

The four astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen have strapped in to the Orion capsule, which will be their home for the next ten days during the historic Artemis 2 expedition.

A short while earlier, they said goodbye to their families – from a distance, as they have been quarantined for the lunar mission.

Next on the schedule is to check the capsule’s computers, screens and communication systems and go through the most important emergency procedures.

At 00.24, Swedish time, a two-hour time window opens for launch. If all goes well, the three Americans and Canadian Hansen will be the first people to head to the moon in over 50 years. The journey will go around the moon and back.

Errors threatened to postpone the expedition at the last minute

With less than two hours left until the launch of Artemis 2, a fault was discovered that threatened to delay the expedition, several media outlets report.

The problem involved a system that is supposed to send a signal to the rocket to self-destruct if it goes off course. It must work for the launch to get the green light.

Shortly after 23:00, it was announced that the problem had been resolved. The launch is scheduled for between 00:24 and 02:24, sw