The four astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis II mission broke their silence after launch this week, describing a white-knuckle engine burn that pushed the Orion spacecraft to 24,500 miles per hour, and a string of onboard equipment failures that included a broken toilet and a misaligned water valve.
Commander Reid Wiseman, 50, called the translunar injection burn one of the mission's most intense stretches. The Sun reported that Wiseman, speaking for the first time since the April 1 launch, shared a candid account of what the crew experienced as the spacecraft accelerated toward the moon.
The mission, the first to send astronauts toward the moon in more than half a century, launched at 11:35 p.m. GMT on April 1 after a ten-minute delay caused by issues with the flight termination system. NASA's Space Launch System, described as the agency's most powerful rocket, carried Orion into orbit at 17,000 mph, or 22 times the speed of sound. Now the crew faces a ten-day journey that will take them 5,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon before a Pacific splashdown expected April 10.
For Americans who remember Apollo, this is a long-overdue return. For taxpayers footing the bill, every hiccup aboard Orion matters.
The translunar injection burn, the firing that set Orion on its path to the moon, came on April 2, after the crew got physical exercise and checked systems during their first full day in orbit. Wiseman described the moment plainly.
"It was pretty tense moments there for a second. And when we got done with that burn, we just kind of looked at each other as a crew."
When the burn was complete, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, 50, radioed Houston with a simple call sign: "And Houston, this is Integrity." Hansen, described as the first Canadian to travel to space, then offered a broader reflection on the weight of the moment.
The crew had been preparing for this flight for years, and the reality of hurtling away from Earth at that speed clearly registered.
"It's a remarkable thing. You would think it would be weighty, but we just feel lifted up by the team that supports us and you just sort of execute the plan. We have a lot of people telling us how to work and manage this vehicle and a lot of great training."
Wiseman put the scale of the mission in blunt terms.
"We have been to the moon before. It's been a long time since we've been back, and I got to tell you, there is nothing normal about this. Sending four humans 250,000 miles away is a Herculean effort, and we are now just realising the gravity of that."
The tense burn was not the crew's only challenge. A toilet malfunction, aboard a system reportedly valued at £17.4 million, forced all four astronauts to hold their bladders for six hours while Christina Koch worked with controllers in Houston to fix the problem.
Houston told Koch to remove toilet parts and try switching the system on and off. After letting the system warm up, the crew finally got the green light to use it. Koch, the mission's only woman, handled the repair herself after consulting ground control. The toilet malfunction drew attention on the ground as one of the more uncomfortable early-mission setbacks.
Separately, a valve connecting water tanks had to be reset after it was found closed when it should have been open. These are the kinds of problems that sound minor from a desk chair on Earth. They are considerably less minor when you are 42,500 miles from the nearest plumber.
Earlier in the flight, Koch had also radioed ground control to ask them to turn up the temperature. The crew were chilly. Roughly eight hours after launch, they were heard asking where their pajamas were. Wiseman said they would fetch long-sleeved tops from their cases.
Between the equipment glitches, the crew took time to describe what they were seeing. Koch radioed a vivid account of Earth from orbit.
"I just wanted to describe for you guys the beauty that we're seeing. You can actually make out the coastline of the continent, rivers, you can see the South Pole lit up. It is just phenomenal. You guys look great."
As tests of the emergency communications systems wrapped up, Wiseman offered his own report from window three.
"We didn't want to let you go without saying the view from window three, from about 38,000 nautical miles, the entire half of the Earth is spectacular."
Mission Control responded warmly: "I love to hear that so much Reid, so glad you guys are getting to experience it." These exchanges, crew members pausing mid-checklist to marvel at what they are seeing, are the kind of moments that remind people why the country does this at all.
Before NASA cleared Artemis II for launch, the program had already endured years of delays and budget overruns. The stakes for a clean flight are high.
The mission schedule lays out a demanding sequence. On April 3, a minor engine firing was scheduled to verify the spacecraft's trajectory. April 4 called for a second outbound trajectory burn and a review of the moon's geography. By April 5, Orion was set to enter the lunar sphere of influence.
The most significant milestone comes April 6, when the spacecraft passes the far side of the moon, the closest it will get to the lunar surface. At that point, the crew will be farther from Earth than any astronaut has previously traveled. The Artemis program has long aimed for this record, and the four aboard Orion are now on track to set it.
On April 7, Orion will leave the lunar sphere of influence and attempt a slingshot maneuver back toward Earth. April 8 includes a test of solar radiation protection and manual steering of the spacecraft. April 9, their last full day in space, will be spent studying re-entry procedures. Re-entry will expose the heat shield to temperatures of 1,650°C, or roughly 3,000°F.
The program's path to this point was not smooth. Earlier postponements over hydrogen leak issues pushed the timeline back and raised questions about whether NASA could execute the mission on schedule.
Splashdown is expected April 10 in the Pacific, with parachutes deploying to bring the crew home. NASA hopes the mission paves the way for a crewed lunar landing in 2028.
The four-person crew includes Commander Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover (49), Koch, and Hansen. During the first day in orbit, the astronauts checked systems over a 23-hour stretch before shedding their spacesuits and gauging the life support system. That painstaking process, documented during their first full day in orbit, set the stage for everything that followed.
Hansen, asked about the historical weight of the mission, deflected the grandeur and credited the ground team. That instinct, trained professionals crediting the people behind them rather than reaching for the spotlight, is worth noting in an era when public figures rarely miss a chance to make things about themselves.
A broken toilet, a stuck valve, a chilly cabin, and a ten-minute launch delay are not catastrophes. They are the kind of friction that comes with sending human beings into the most hostile environment imaginable on hardware that has to work perfectly for ten straight days. What matters is how the crew handled it: calmly, methodically, and with a sense of humor about the pajamas.
America went to the moon before. Getting back has taken longer than it should have. But four Americans and a Canadian are out there right now, doing the work, and that counts for something.
