Artemis II astronauts show how to manually fly the Orion spacecraft

If you’re reading this news, you’ve probably imagined many times what it’s like to pilot a spacecraft. NASA recently released a video of astronauts revealing details about the controls of the Orion spacecraft, a key element of the Artemis II mission.

Orion has already successfully circled the Moon during the Artemis I mission in 2022. But then the flight was fully automatic with no crew, except that they were replaced by full-size dummies. The next Artemis II mission, which is scheduled for 2026, involves a flight with four astronauts around the Moon. While the spacecraft is designed for autonomous flight, it also allows for manual control. Astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover describe how they will test Orion’s systems during the mission.

The astronauts will use a CCD device to interact with the spacecraft’s software. Glover describes it as a basic interface tool. The CCD makes it possible to move the cursor between displays and interact with different data. “There is far more information on these displays than we will need to to fly this spacecraft normally,” says Wiseman, “but if something goes wrong, we can dig down into the systems and detect the problem on our own.”

Inside the Orion spacecraft. Photo: NASA

During the Artemis II mission, Orion will fly past the Moon at an altitude of just under 200 km and then further into space, where it will perform a turnaround maneuver and return to Earth. The astronauts will conduct an important test, checking the control systems manually. For example, they will use controllers to control the spacecraft’s motion: pitch, roll, yaw, and forward, backward, up, down, left, and right.

“Right next to the displays, you see switches and toggles and dials, we call those switch interface panels,” Glover explains. “If the rotational and translational hand controllers didn’t work, we also have a backup to a set of switches.”

The crew of the Artemis II mission prepares to learn how to fly the Orion spacecraft. Photo: NASA

The Artemis II crew has been preparing for the mission since April 2023. The launch was originally planned for 2024, but it was postponed due to technical problems with the spacecraft. The Artemis III mission, which involves landing astronauts on the Moon, has also been postponed and is scheduled for 2027.

We previously reported on how the results of radiation exposure inside the Orion capsule were declassified.

According to digitaltrends.com

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