New Delhi: There are five million people across the world who have a boarding pass to travel on the Artemis II mission alongside the four astronauts. As the first crewed mission toward the Moon launched early Thursday morning from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre, the four Artemis II astronauts took with them an SD card containing the names of 5,647,889 people who had signed up on the NASA website to join the ‘Moon Crew’.
“Send your name around the Moon!” reads NASA’s official website, inviting common citizens to submit their name on a portal and generate their own personalised boarding pass for the mission.
Artemis II is the first time humans have approached the Moon after a gap of 53 years, with the Orion spacecraft set to fly by the Moon’s surface and then return to Earth. The 10-day mission will involve deep space exploration and demonstrations of some of the most advanced technology that NASA has been working on for their Artemis series, including the SLS (space launch system) rocket and the Orion spacecraft itself.
Originally scheduled for 2024, the second Artemis mission was postponed multiple times because of certain technical challenges. While Artemis I, launched in November 2022, was an uncrewed mission that travelled for 1.4 million miles and also looped around the Moon, Artemis II is the first crewed mission in the series. This raised the stakes higher for NASA, which is preparing Orion and SLS to be able to carry out long-haul, deep-space missions carefully with crew on board.
Also read: Artemis II and its toilet troubles. It failed after takeoff
Engagement programmes
Along with the preparations for the mission itself, NASA, in its quintessential style, also introduced several citizen engagement programmes to allow people to understand and experience the Artemis II flight. Apart from the boarding pass, NASA also launched a social media campaign, titled #NASAMoonCrew, inviting people to upload pictures of themselves watching the Artemis II launch with their own ‘crew’.
The Artemis II mission has three American astronauts — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch — and one Canadian astronaut, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen.
The NASA website has a quiz available for people, titled ‘Which Artemis Astronaut Are You?’, which has light questions such as ‘what role do you play in a road trip?’ and ‘what is your leadership style?’. After being introduced on 28 March, the quiz was shared widely by audiences on X, with people excited to find out which of the four astronauts they are most similar to.
Additionally, NASA’s website has additional resources for interested audiences and educators to understand exactly how the four astronauts will spend 10 days in space. From their spacesuits designed by a Massachusetts company for withstanding pressure and temperature changes, to the food designed for the astronauts, and even their exercise machines and cleaning supplies have been explained in great detail by NASA in different press releases.
“The mission will pave the way for future lunar surface missions, including by the first woman and first person of colour, establishing long-term lunar science and exploration capabilities,” said a press release by NASA. “ … (it will) inspire the next generation of explorers — The Artemis Generation.”
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)