Astronauts Set Course for the Moon in Historic Artemis II Mission
For the first time in over half a century, astronauts are embarking on a journey around the Moon. As members of the Artemis II mission venture into the depths of space, a temporary communication blackout awaits them when the lunar mass obstructs their connection with Mission Control back on Earth. However, this brief lapse does not pose significant risks, assures Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen.
“The Apollo missions also circled the far side of the Moon, but what sets Artemis II apart is that it marks the first crewed flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft,” Mogensen explained in an interview with Ritzau.
The SLS is NASA’s latest rocket, crucial for the agency’s ambitions to return humans to the Moon for extended missions. Mogensen emphasized, “This is a test flight aimed at assessing how the spacecraft performs with astronauts aboard, laying the groundwork for future lunar exploration.”
Artemis II is a pivotal component of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which collaborates with international partners, including space agencies from Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia. The mission aims to establish a lunar space station that will orbit the Moon for over a decade, ultimately leading to the creation of a sustainable base for astronauts to live and work.
In the early hours of Thursday, Danish time, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the initial days of their mission, they will orbit Earth, conducting a series of critical system checks before heading toward the Moon.
If all goes according to plan, this mission will mark humanity’s return to the Moon’s vicinity for the first time since 1972. The prospect of lunar travel is not just theoretical for Mogensen; as a member of the astronaut corps, he is potentially eligible for future lunar missions. Yet, he remains realistic about the competitive landscape.
“There has never been a European astronaut on a lunar mission before, so the competition will be fierce,” he noted. “The European Space Agency (ESA) has already indicated that the first astronaut on an Artemis mission will be German, followed by an Italian and a French astronaut. As a representative of a smaller member state, I am at the tail end of the line.”
Denmark is one of 22 member countries that helped establish ESA in 1975. Selected for the astronaut corps in 2009, Mogensen completed his foundational training at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne in 2010. As the first Dane to venture into space—twice—he first launched in 2015, spending ten days on the International Space Station, and embarked on a six-month mission in 2023.
Today, Mogensen serves as the head of the astronaut corps and leads the Human Exploration Group at ESA, playing an essential role in shaping the future of space exploration.
/Ritzau/
