Vlog 15: Their mission? Test the Orion capsule

Uploaded on August 20, 2025

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Vlog 15: Their mission? Test the Orion capsule

The historic Artemis II mission is the first crewed test flight of the Artemis campaign. In this vlog, CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen explains the objectives of the mission and the kinds of tests that will be done on the spacecraft and its various systems. (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA, Fulwell 73 UK Limited)

When we’re done our job, we will have the confidence in that capsule and we’ll hand the baton off to the next crew to take us to the surface of the Moon.

Artemis II mission, what is the objective? Well, Artemis is a campaign of missions to return humanity to the Moon. Also, with an eye on getting to Mars.

People often ask, you know, why did it take us so long to go back to the Moon? We were there over 50 years ago. Why now? 

Now we’re at that point where we have these great commercial partnerships, new technologies, and returning to the Moon is going to focus some of our greatest minds to accomplish some extraordinary things and to innovate, in ways that will help us not only just get to the Moon but also help us here on planet Earth.

We’re going to look for water ice on the Moon. Some people refer to the Moon as a library in our solar system, because it can tell us a lot about our history. 

And so for Artemis II, we are just one step in this long series of missions. Our job is to test the Orion capsule. It’s the first time we put humans on the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule.

So, we’re going to do all the manual flight controls, all the life support systems, and make sure it is ready for some of the more demanding missions that involve taking humans to the surface of the Moon in the future.

When we’re done our job, we will have the confidence in that capsule and we’ll hand the baton off to the next crew to take us to the surface of the Moon, which is pretty exciting to think about.

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