Okay, ten facts about the Artemis II mission.
How long will the mission last, and
how many kilometres will you travel?
So it’ll last about ten days, and we’ll
travel over a million kilometres.
How many astronauts will be on board?
Well, one Canadian
and three Americans: Reid Wiseman,
Victor Glover and Christina Koch.
Where will you launch from and land?
Well, we’ll launch from Florida.
And we’ll splash down in the Pacific
near the coast of San Diego.
What vehicle will bring you to the Moon?
The SLS rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft
and put us in an orbit to fly around the Moon.
How big is Orion?
Crew module is about the size of
a camper van, so pretty cozy.
Will you conduct any science
experiments during the mission?
Of course.
We’ll be both scientists as well as
subjects for health-related experiments.
There’ll also be four international
CubeSats that are launched,
and we’ll make scientific
observations of the Moon.
What are you most excited about?
Definitely seeing the Earth
from the perspective of the Moon.
Name one special thing about the mission.
We could get to see parts of
the far side of the Moon
that have never been seen
by human eyes before.
And when we get close to
the Moon, it will appear to be
about the size of a basketball
held out at arm’s length.
Are you bringing any personal items
that are especially important to you?
Well, very few because we’re
limited on space, but I will be carrying
four pendants that are in
the shape of the Moon.
They say “Moon and back” on them, and
they have the birthstones of our family.
One for my wife and my three kids.
And I’ll also be flying the Canadian
mission patch, that was gifted to us
by an Anishinaabe artist, and it just
does a really great job of highlighting
some of the beauty that is contained
in traditional Indigenous knowledge.
Name one thing that you hope to
accomplish with this mission aside from
the mission objectives.
I hope that this mission makes Canadians proud.
And that it is a reminder and
reflection of what we can do
when we set big goals and we
work together to achieve them.