Artemis II views, countdown & launch

We're going back to the moon because it's the next step in our journey to Mars. We need to go explore the moon. There's vast regions of unexplored areas with the coldest, darkest places in our solar system. This is a test mission and when we get off the planet, we might come right back home. We might spend three or four days around Earth. We might go to the moon.

That's where we want to go, but it is a test mission and we are ready for every scenario as we ride this amazing space launch system and the Orion spacecraft. But another reason we're going back to the moon is to fulfill NASA's mission, which is to explore the unknown in air and space, to innovate for the benefit of humanity and to inspire the world through discovery. And when we succeed and when we accomplish the things that we set out to accomplish, that inspiration not only can set up new things to happen, but it also is a reminder in tough times that

we're capable of doing great things when we work together.

The thing I love about the moon is that it's not just a beacon for exploration and this platform of possibilities for incredible missions like this, but it has benefits. That's actually why we're racing towards it. Those benefits are really wide in nature. You have everything from innovation, technology development, not only for future missions going deeper into the solar system, but technologies that come back to Earth.

You have inspiration. A whole generation of people starting this pipeline of STEM workers and manufacturers and operators that are excited to see what you can do when you work hard and you come together as a team. When I think about the four of

us flying around the far side of the moon, seeing that Earth rise, taking images and video and sending them back to you, the feeling that I have inside is hope. We know that Artemis II is not the solution for humanity on planet Earth, but it is a contribution in the positive column. We hope that just for a moment, that people will pause and say,

wow, it's extraordinary when you look back upon the Earth with over 8 billion people, and you see this concrete example of what humanity can do, this extraordinary thing, when we set big goals. And CDR entity.

To achieve.

And so Mission Control Houston will control the flight of Orion after a lift off here at Kennedy Space Center. Here's Gary Jordan, who's embedded with that team. Gary, you might have to pause because we did just hear a call out to the commander in Orion.

Will do, Megan. and I'll try and So we are well on the countdown. We are well on the timeline to meet this L minus time and launch towards the beginning of the window, but continuing to track progress along the way. Again, I'm here with the Artemis 2 flight control teams in Mission Control Houston. The team in the room behind me has been monitoring the countdown and verifying their own mission-specific launch criteria of the Space Launch System, the Orion spacecraft integrity, and its crew.

During the final poll before launch, if all looks good from each of the flight controllers in this room, Flight Director Judd Freeling will report a go-for-launch from Houston Flight. Upon liftoff, teams here take control of the mission and communicate with the crew while they fly on the Space Launch System. This phase of flight is highly dynamic, and each console position has a dedicated and important role of looking after critical systems.

You'll hear calls from CAPCOM and NASA astronauts Stan Love in this room to the Artemis II crew as milestones are reached during the more than eight minutes of powered flight on the core stage. Liftoff and ascent are just the beginning. This room will be staffed around the clock over the next 10 days to oversee every moment of the mission through splashdown. Here from the Johnson Space Center, we'll be streaming the mission live 24-7 so anyone can follow the crew's journey,

take peeks inside the spacecraft, and share the experience of a lunar flyby with astronauts looking down at the moon's surface. Teams here have been rehearsing tirelessly in simulations to throw every conceivable and inconceivable scenario their way. We are ready and eager to begin the Artemis II mission. Still milestones to come as we continue the countdown, but we'll be right back with you during the ascent phase of today's flight.

With that, Megan, I will send it back over to you at the Space Coast.

Thanks so much, Gary. Under 37 minutes until the opening of our two-hour launch window, 624 p.m. Eastern. I've never been more excited for a time. But why don't we send it back over to Megan Carter with the Moon board to learn more about what happens after a sense.

Absolutely. I am definitely also getting excited. Things feel like they're starting to pick up a little pace here. A lot is about to happen within the first 10 minutes of launch. But what happens after those first 10 minutes. Let me take you over here to my mission map so we can kind of jump ahead and let me explain a few things. So our main engine cutoff is going to stand for MECO. And that is essentially where the rockets job is done. And it is then going to turn the propulsion duties over to our ICP. That stands for interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Don't try and say that too many times fast. But the ICPS is going to be right here and that's our in space propulsion. About 50 minutes into after about 50 minutes into launch it is going to conduct that first burn and that's going to be the perigee raise maneuver.

Essentially what that is going to do is going to raise the spacecraft from a lowest point of Earth just a little bit higher into space and then they are going to conduct that nice path. It's going to set them on that nice circular path around the Earth. That's when they're going to start to be able to really check out the spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft is going to be able to like we've talked about be maneuvered by the crew. They're going to check out those life support systems and communication checkouts going to be vital at that point as well obviously. Then they will be conducting that another burn and that's going to raise them just a little bit higher again and then they will it'll be about time for

the ICPS to separate and they will start another lap around the earth as well. Now the ICPS but even after it separates its job will not be done because they will have the opportunity to conduct something called the proximity operations demonstration. And this is going to be really important for our future lunar missions because the ICPS actually has a target on it and the crew is going to have the opportunity to manually maneuver these spacecraft like we've mentioned and practice those docking maneuvers. Now obviously they will not be docking for this mission,

but that is again gonna be critical for those lunar missions in the future. Now, all right, after that ICPS has separated and they've done that second lap, they're gonna conduct two more burns. And what these burns are gonna do is set them up

to the high enough orbit and a fast enough speed in order to conduct the trans lunar injection. This is going to be that critical moment in that critical milestone where they are going to produce about six thousand pounds of thrust. And this is that point that is going to take them out of deep out of low Earth orbit into deep space. And it's going to set them on that nice path towards that lunar flyby. And I know we have talked a little bit about why this could be a

record breaking flyby and journey to the moon. And with that I'm going to turn it back over to Megan so she can tell us just why.

She's talking about the distance record set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970. They were two hundred forty eight thousand six We're 248,655 miles away from Earth and this Artemis 2 crew might surpass that on flight day six when they fly around the moon by more than 4,000 miles.

Yeah, it's, I mean, it's a long ways. It's tough to fathom 250,000 miles from Earth, right? I mean, space, you know, the space station is only 250 miles. And so we're going, you know, I don't want to do the public math, but we're going much further than that. But, you know, it's important, right, because we want to get back to the moon.

We want to see the surface. We want to see the far side of the moon. And the way we do that is by breaking distance records.

Yeah. And the exact distance record depends on exactly when they launch, like the time, the day, so we'll learn more as we go into this 10-day mission with the Artemis 2 crew. But here we are, 32 minutes, 50 seconds and counting from the opening of our launch window. Feels really, really surreal here as more and more people come to gather on the press site lawn here at Kennedy Space Center. Why don't we take a look at this video that we have here, Some familiar faces who wanted to wish our Artemis 2 crew a safe journey.

Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy you are the real deal. You're flying to the

moon for all of us and we are in awe. You're the true heroes. You are not just

astronauts. You are pioneers venturing deeper into the unknown. But you are not alone. We will be all cheering you on from planet Earth.

Hey, I'm Victor Wimaniama, and I play basketball in the NBA. But I'm not only interested in shooting hoops. I'm also interested in shooting stars, dark matter, and all other types of astronomical phenomenon. And to the Artemis II astronauts who are shooting for the moon, I wish them good luck and godspeed.

Hi everybody, I'm Ryan Gosling and I play a biologist who goes to space to save the planet in the film Project Hail Mary. But, the Artemis II astronauts are going to space for real and they will travel farther from Earth than any humans in history. Sending all our best wishes to the Artemis II crew.

I just want to say how proud I am of each of you and how inspired you make me. But it's not just about me. Your mission is going to inspire future generations of scientists, engineers, athletes, and dreamers

to do something that they never thought possible.

Hey, it's Roy Wood Jr. and I want to wish the Artemis 2 crew a happy and safe journey to the moon. Well, around the moon. I know what you're doing. You got to look for a parking space. This is to go around the moon, make sure somewhere to park, and then you park, journey. Good luck.

It's actually a really good way to explain what the, how this mission builds. Again, we are hoping to land astronauts on the surface of the moon in maybe two years. So yes, we are looking around the moon on this lunar fly-by mission to see where we might park. Thank you, Roy Wood Jr. Okay, and as we look at this live view

of the rocket on the pad, there is a spectacular place here at Kennedy Space Center to watch launch from, and that's the Banana Creek viewing area. Why don't we go back there where the crowd is excited and Leah has the best assignment ever talking to people who are super excited about being here for Artemis 2.

Oh my gosh, Megan, you talk about the excitement being palpable. I'm telling you, everybody here on pins and needles as we get just about half an hour away from launch. I've been walking around talking to people and I'm just struck again and again by how many people are here from across the agency. I want to introduce you to just a small portion of the people across NASA who have been supporting this mission.

Patty Ortiz, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Orion Program.

Ryan.

Kathy Graves, Glenn Research Center, Office of STEM Engagement.

David Alexander, NASA Glenn Research Center, Office of STEM Engagement.

Jennifer Becerra, Johnson Space Center, Office of STEM Engagement.

Here we go, right back here. Where are you from?

I'm from NASA Glenn Research Center, Joseph Pinikidis.

Joseph, here we go.

Wes Furman from APL.

Maria Arredondo from headquarters NextGen STEM. Mark

Robinson, Stennis Space Center, Commercial Space. Amira Flores, Armstrong,

Office of the STEM Engagement. Molly Kearns, NASA Glenn, Space Communications

and Navigation. Matthew Pierce, Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York

City. Here we go and right over here. Lauren Ring, Ames Research Center, Data Integration. So we're coming together. We're one big NASA

team one big NASA family. And we have a one major message before we launch tonight. OK guys what are we going to say. One two Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh. That made me so emotional. That was so inspiring to see. I mean, wow. Yeah, that was great. I mean, just to hear everybody say their position, what they're doing to support this mission

is amazing, and I'm sure this was something that really rang true and resonated with NASA's Administrator Jared Isaacman again to see the workforce come together to do the work and then to be here for launch. So why don't we actually go over to him now with our Jasmine

Hopkins at one of our other viewing locations. All right Megan, thank you so much. The energy here on the balcony is honestly becoming electric as we get so close to launch. And now we are thrilled to welcome NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. Jared, we're really entering a golden age of exploration. How will Artemis 2 set the pace for the coming years?

Well, I mean, Artemis 2 is the opening act, right? This is the test mission. This is getting very comfortable with the SLS rocket, the Orion spacecraft. No humans have ever flown on this before, right? And we're gonna put it through its paces. We'll go into Earth orbit for a little bit, make sure Orion's doing okay,

and then we are sending them, right? We're gonna send them farther into space than any humans have gone before, 250,000 miles away, and it's gonna set up for the subsequent missions. That's why we're going into the golden age of science and discovery right now because you're going to see a moon rocket launch in 2027 when we do our testing with the lander. We're going to go for the landing on Artemis 4 in 2028. And in parallel we're going to build the moon base. Right.

And that is going to be filled with science discovery and tech demonstrations that's going to support the enduring presence we're trying to create on the surface. Absolutely. So honestly history making years ahead of us you know with Artemis 3 and 4. But first is Artemis 2. What will be our single greatest takeaway from this mission. Well I'll tell you I mean after ignition to me the moment that I'm going to be most excited for a splashdown. There's no question about that. Good shoots coming down off the West Coast. But look I think that I think the takeaway from this is gaining extreme comfort in the Orion spacecraft, right? I mean, this is very different than what we've done for more than a half century, right?

I mean, the velocities that that spacecraft is going to reenter at, it's going to be new territory for us. We want to get our arms around that completely. So I would say the performance of SLS plus Orion is everything on this one. We want to make sure we do it in a way as a safe way as we possibly can. Understanding

what we are undertaking right here. Bring our crew back. Learn as much we can from the vehicle set up for Artemis 3 in 2027.

Right. And administrator we've actually had a pretty young audience today. Here are some kids running around the balcony. How do

you hope Artemis 2 inspires that next generation. You know I talk about this all the time. Like you know one of our I think are overarching KPIs that we should always be tracking is the number of people living and working in space. Well you know it's another strong number two on that one. It's a number of kids that are dressing up as astronauts for Halloween so that

they grow up that they're inspired to want to join in this grand endeavor whether they come work with us here at NASA or they join an industry, but they're helping humankind venture out farther, pursue all the secrets of the universe.

Yeah, I think we'll see a lot of kids dressed as astronauts this year. And finally, Jared, you've really made it a personal mission to get to know the people behind the work at NASA. Do you have any final thoughts, any final words before today's history making launch?

Yeah, well, one, I want to express a lot of appreciation. I'll tell you what the four astronauts on top of on top of Artemis to know this. It takes an army to pull a mission together like this right across all 10 of our centers all of our all of our commercial partners the international partners that come together to make this possible. My sincere appreciation for everyone who is currently working the mission right now. So getting them ready for launch. That will be watching over them in mission control, recovering this crew when they splash down off the West Coast. I have complete trust and confidence in your abilities.

And everybody else who's not directly working on Artemis II, Artemis III is coming up next year. When this mobile launcher gets back in the VAB, we're going to start stacking.

Wow, plenty of excitement ahead of us. Jared Isaacman, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

Thanks for being here. Of course. All right. And with that, let's get back to the countdown with NASA's Megan Cruz.

Under 25 minutes and counting from the opening of our two-hour launch window. And take a look at all these people behind us. I literally every moment I turn around and I see the clock I am like, oh wow.

Oh wow.

There are more people and less time.

Yes, exactly, which is a great problem to have. Now this first crewed test flight of NASA's Artemis program coincides with the 250th anniversary of our country's founders signing the Declaration of Independence. Exploration is a part of America's DNA

and it continues now with our return to the moon.

250 years ago, 13 colonies laid the foundation for the greatest and most enduring democracy in the history of the world. One driven by courage, faith, and freedom. From that moment, we became a nation defined not by where we stood, but by how far we were willing to go.

We conquered vast frontiers, invented tools that shaped a modern world. We found light in the dark, and we rose from the Earth. Faster, higher, farther, we pushed beyond the sky and into the unknown. We carried our courage into the cosmos, and we planted the American flag on the moon,

the defining achievement of American superiority in space. Today, our curiosity stretches farther than ever. American robots search ancient rivers on Mars. New telescopes unfold to glimpse the first stars. And a new generation prepares to return to the moon, this time to stay. For 250 years, America has carried the light of humanity forward.

But American exceptionalism isn't inherited, it's earned. Our greatness comes not only from what we've done, but what we're still determined to discover. Because in every era, across every horizon, America is at its best when it's reaching for something greater.

America celebrates 250 years and we are leading the world into the future.

22 minutes, 15 seconds and counting from Artemis to NASA's boldest test flight in a generation. The crew has said this often that they hope it inspires children around the world. And recently a group of kids here at Kennedy Space Center got a surprise of a lifetime time while watching that rocket roll to the launch pad. So tell me what color it is.

Orange. And who's going to be on that rocket? We're going to be on that rocket. And who's going to be on that rocket? This is the real rockin' Oh my gosh I can make it a little bit longer Did you see that?

Did you see that? Ok so everybody is looking at the rocket It is kinda cool and impressive One of the coolest things happening over there right now Is it's on top of a giant tractor

Doesn't all food come in like tubes?

It's in these like little plastic bags You have to like rehydrate it Sushi. I haven't seen sushi.

It's probably hard to keep that big.

Because you have to eat sushi and mash it up together.

My favorite part was this one little girl,

she had a question. She patiently held her hand for a long time. And Christina turns to her and says, OK, what's your question? She just goes, I forgot. It was like, that's a perfect little kid moment. Wait, are you my mother's cat's tune astronauts?

What, say that again?

Never mind. It's a little hard to say.

Go Artemis!

These two, yeah. Look at this one!

There you go.

I like your dabbing astronaut look there.

It's just so fun to see the enthusiasm, the energy, and a little bit of chaos.

3, 2, 1, Go Orbiters!

Wasn't that so cute?

I love kids and their excitement and, you know, even just being real.

Like, I don't remember what I was going to ask.

I know, he goes, but I'm glad you're here. Now here we are, Space Center Houston. The crowd has exponentially grown throughout the day. We started showing you live shots from in there probably an hour ago, and now take a look at all the people there getting ready to witness history together.

It's something really special to be able to witness something like this together.

Yeah, you know, we've heard from celebrities and officials and kids and, you know, it's just it's amazing people from all around the world came here today to Florida to watch so it's it's something it's hard to put into words

just how much support for this mission we're seeing today.

And great news too, remember the team was tracking an issue with the launch system battery. They appear to have cleared that issue. So we are go for launch.

Yes, it's exciting. US Space and Rocket Center here, Huntsville, Alabama, waving to the Artemis 2 crew sitting right there inside Orion. Inside of 20 minutes from the opening of our launch window. And right now we are targeting the top of that launch window. So we could be launching here in about 19 minutes. Nicole Wow. I don't know if I expected this today. I'm excited. And you know I'm glad they were able to clear the problem with the battery on the LAS and everything has gone really smoothly today. It's been great. The weather cleared up.

It's a beautiful day for a launch.

And so now as we are so close to possibly launch now, just what are your final thoughts as we are about to embark on a mission back to the moon the first time in more than 50 years.

Yeah, you know, just so proud of the crew and all of the teams here on the ground that made this happen. You know, they are carrying the torch from the Apollo era into the Artemis era. And, you know, as the crew likes to say, they want to be the shoulders

that the next generation.

And let's see, JLS, can you help us with that, please?

They want to be the, the crew wants to be the shoulders

that the next generation can climb on.

The last gen, 001A.

You know, I think it's in their patch. We're going for all. It's in the name of their capsule integrity, representing humility and the professionalism of everyone that got them there today. So proud of them. We love them.

We're excited for them. And we cannot wait to see what they see.

Just leveraging everything we've learned so far as an agency, taking us from Apollo now to the launch pad here, 39B, with Orion and SLS poised to again fly us into the history books. And before we leave you now here at the hostess to get back into operations, we just wanted to answer one question for you guys. We asked you earlier on today, what are you most excited for? And we asked you to go vote on Instagram and Twitch. Instagram, you guys said launch.

Twitch, you guys said lunar flyby. So I think you guys will all be very excited since we are now about 17 minutes from the opening of our launch window today. And so with that, as we approach terminal count, let's send it back to Darrell Nail in firing room one.

Darrell.

All right, thank you, Megan and Nicole. And just want to give you an update on the launch abort system that you just reported that they cleared. They believe, they're convinced, this is an instrumentation failure.

So there are two batteries on the LAS. The LAS, of course, and with the help of my dear old son's model rocket, Daniel said I could use this, so it's okay. The LAS is right here. It's the tower above Orion. Orion capsule's inside of here.

It's used to pull Orion off the rocket in case the rocket is, something's going on with the rocket, either on the pad or in flight two batteries are bad well i'm sorry one of the two batteries reported an out-of-family temperature and it was very much out of family and so they checked their data going back into the vehicle assembly building where they recharged the batteries and worked on them and they have good solid data they, that tells them that this is an instrumentation failure,

that there's something wrong with the sensor. And so they took it before the mission management team, which has to accept the risk, any changes to launch commit criteria, which this would be one, and they all fully accepted it. So now we are clear as far as that constraint is concerned. And one quick thing as we count down now, we are getting into the final minutes before liftoff.

There's a two hour window. We haven't quite set the T zero yet. But this is a list of the cutouts. There are one hundred and fifty cutouts that are included for this two-hour launch window. And that's important. They're in very small print. That's important because there's basically 16 minutes inside this window that they cannot launch. And these are because of small things flying in orbit. There's a lot more things in orbit than there were back in Artemis 1 when we had 35 to 40 cutouts. So that, for that reason, because of these 156 cutouts,

they're going to be managing the launch window as we go forward. So they may have to wait out one of these cutouts. They range in time between 2 seconds to 23 seconds. But you'll hear the NASA test director talk through that. We're getting ready to merge that loop from NASA test director Jeff Spalding.

And so now I'm listening to the launch team get ready to merge their operational channel. We're now entering one of the most consequential phases of launch day, and that's terminal count, the final 10 minutes.

And OTC, NTD on 212 for comm check.

Good, comm, how many?

I hear you the same, STC? TTC?

TTC is on 212.

All right, copy that.

NASA Test Director Jeff Spalding confirming communications with his team. There will be two polls that we'll hear. One from Spalding, the NASA Test Director, confirming the ground systems and the launch team are ready to proceed. At this point, we have a clear board, no constraints, but we need confirmation from each individual on the NASA test director team. So we'll hear him poll his team. The other poll that we're waiting for is the poll from Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson,

who will take that final status from NASA management before giving the go to come out of a hold. And you're seeing the clock count down at L minus 12 minutes.

MCCL, OTC Orion, Earth 1.

CCL.

Yes, sir.

Reconfigure ARS primary loop isovalves.

Copy.

That's in work. MCDR, OTC Orion, Earth 1.

Go.

ARS loop isovalves are being closed at this time.

Integrity copies.

NGDLP.

Go.

We just had a discussion with CEIS and with MER Manager regarding the observation the CEIS had a few minutes ago. They were able to confirm on the BCI photos that the condition that they observed has been there for 2025. MER Manager has had a chance to review the findings and they do not have any

constraints from either a CI or MER Manager perspective. Okay copy all. Analyze director NTD you copy? Yes sir I copy that that's good news. OTC CCL 212. OTC. ARS primary loop isolation valve configuration is complete.

Copy.

And CGLS NTD cancel pending, please. GLS copies. And that's complete. All right. And for all personnel, we've got a little bit more work to do before we pick up the clock. And we're about a little over a minute from getting to T-10 minutes,

but we've canceled the resume time there and then we'll pick it up after we get through all of our work and anything else that we need to do to get through the remainder of count. So we'll continue working that to get to RT0 today.

So when we get to about 50 seconds from now, we'll extend that hold. CVSE OTC. CVSE, 400, 290, looking to verify that we are configured for ascent.

Yep, give me about two more minutes. I'm going to start CMA2 streaming.

Copy. NTD COSE hold requested. Copy that. I have an LCC violation of O-CT-004 S-band transponder anomaly. This was a transient LCC violation, so transponder one had a demodulated SNR estimate that went down to 2 dBm. When it should have been between 10 and 13, it is now back up to 12, but we did lose that for just a moment. It does not appear that we lost our bit sync or carrier lock, which would be indicative that we lost our lock with the vehicle. So, at this point, recommendation would still be go.

However, we do have a pre-planned contingency procedure if we want to look at that. But again, this is transient, so we're back in a nominal range.

All right.

Let's see. LP, NTD?

Yeah, we're not seeing that hit. So I guess the question for COSC, was that less than three samples?

Was that below our persistence? Stand by, let me look. It did look like it did persist for several seconds on mine, but let me take a look at the number of samples. Could I get a repeat on the affected LCC, please?

Yes, ma'am, that's going to be O-CT-004.

Thank you. Yeah, I was taking a look at the data right here.

Looks like that was a single sample.

Yeah, copy that. RFDS does report that they also lost lock for about five seconds. So I would love to ask KUS and see if they also lost lock for about five seconds, so I would love to ask KUS and see if they also lost lock with the vehicle for any extended amount of period.

And COSC, while we're doing that, these are 110th hertz measurements, correct? So we would have had to lose it for over 10 seconds to get a second sample? Yes, sir. That's correct. It is 1 tenth Hertz. Yes, so from our perspective, the allowance is effectively up to 30 seconds, up to 3 samples based on the 1 tenth Hertz. This is not an LCC violation, I believe.

Yes, sir. I would agree with that at this point. Copy that. on the 1 tenths hertz. This is not an LCC violation, I believe. Yes, sir. I would agree with that at this point. Copy that. For check, can KUS and 232, I don't think they have 212 access. We're trying to verify, but...

But it sounds like they have a loss of lock as well. About two seconds. Okay. And I guess for both KUS and COSE, do we have lock now?

That's affirmed.

We do have lock for COSE.

Yeah, so from the integration console perspective, we did have a temporary loss there within the allowable and per the requirement.

Let's go.

And this is Houston Flight.

We have lock and we have good telemetry here in GSE.

And KUS is reported to have good lock now. So with all of that, OSC, then are we in a go configuration per your LCC? Yes, sir. Recommendation would be go. Okay. LPE, you concur with that? Yes, sir. LPE concurs go. And Launch Director?

Yes, sir. Launch Director concurs go. All right. And I'm going to go ahead and just verify everybody has everything else complete, Launch Director? And if we do, we'll be ready to pick up the poll at that time, unless there's something else that you're aware of.

No, sir. Let's verify all our work is complete, and I would like one last check of our constraints

list.

All right. Let's see. OTC, are you still waiting for COM config, or are you... That is a firm, sir. Okay. Is that your only open item? Yeah, OTC, this is CVAC, that 400 step 290 is complete. Copy. Okay, so OTC, you're complete with all your work? That's affirmed. All right, copy that. STC? STC is complete. And GTC? GTC is complete. Okay, excellent. All right, and LPE, I just want to verify we have no open constraints at this time. No open constraints. We have a clear board, sir.

Okay. Tracking the same here. And Launch Director, with that, we are clear and ready to pick up the launch readiness poll with your go.

All right, sir. I am go for the pole. All right.

And for all personnel, this is the NTD conducting the Artemis II launch readiness check. Verify ready to resume count and go for launch. OTC. OTC is go. STC.

STC is go.

GTC.

GTC is go.

MCO. MCO is go. Safety console.

Safety console is go. LPE. LPE is go. Safety console. Safety console is go.

LPE. LPE is go.

RTD.

RTD is go. Houston flight. Houston flight is go.

ROC.

ROC is go.

And CDR.

Crew is go.

Copy that.

Thank you, Reed.

And Launch Director NTD, our launch team is ready to proceed at this time.

All right, NTD. Thank you, Reed. And Launch Director Ntd, our launch team is ready to proceed at this time.

All right, Ntd, I copy all. At this time, I'll perform my poll. Attention on the net, this is the Launch Director performing the final poll for launch. Verify no constraints and go for launch. EGF, EGF, Program Chief Engineer.

Autobus Chief Engineers are go.

Copy, thank you. EGS, Chief Safety Officer. The Artemis CSOs are go. Copy, thank you. Range, weather.

Launch, weather is go.

Thank you, LWO. And Artemis, MMT Chair.

MMT is go MMTs go.

Thank you, John.

And Integrity launch director.

Good air, your voice, Charlie.

PLT.

Thank you, Charlie. This is Victor.

We are going for our families.

MS1.

This is Christina. We are going for ouris. MS-1. This is Christina.

We are going for our teammates.

MS-2.

This is Jeremy. We are going for all humanity. All right, Charlie.

Your Artemis-2 crew is go for launch.

Full send. I copy that. Reed, Victor, Christina and Jeremy, on this historic mission, you take with you the heart of this Artemis team, the daring spirit of the American people and our partners across the globe, and the hopes and dreams of a new generation.

Good luck. Godspeed, Artemis II. Let's go.

And NTD, Launch Director.

Go ahead, Launch Director.

Yes, sir. You have a go to proceed with countdown.

Copy that. I'll put it in work. CDR entity Go. Figure risers and initiate short purge per your reprox 10.1.1 steps 8 and 9 10.1.1 8 and 9 going to work copy CVSE entity start and verify recordings of our Orion cameras. Copy. Okay. Well, there you heard it.

RSR, NTD. RSR.

They're getting ready to start terminal count.

FNA arm rotation enable at this time, please.

It's currently at T minus 10 minutes. Once we wrap up this last bit of work, we're going to start that clock.

Thank you. Integrity crew, close and lock visors.

You heard an issue worked in real time with telemetry lock on the Orion. It was transitory. It was very short. They checked the data, confirmed that they had a good lock. This was with the S-band transmitter on the Orion. Worked through that issue, looked at the data, and cleared it. All with the world watching.

Impressive work by the launch team. So we have a two-hour window, which starts in just a few minutes at 624 p.m. Eastern Time and goes until 824 p.m. Eastern Time and goes until 824 p.m. Eastern Time.

And ECL Entity will be waiting for your verification on the short purge. ECL copies. And for all personnel, once we get that short purge verification, we'll verify that we are clear to go and then we'll proceed with the terminal count. ECL time estimate?

About a minute.

Copy. So we're going into the launch window, but not by much it looks like. Just wrapping up some final work. And once that's completed, you'll hear NASA Test Director Jeff Spalding ask for the ground launch sequencer operator to go ahead and start the clock. of the launch control system in the firing room acts like a conductor of an orchestra, executing hundreds of commands in precise order and timing. It's all autonomous.

Entity CCL 212, short purge initiation is verified. All right, copy that. And we're ver from cutouts. And with that, we're going to resume the clock momentarily. And CGLS, you can resume the clock on your mark. GLS copies. Three, two, one, mark. GLS mainline has been initiated. T-minus 10

minutes and counting. And that begins terminal count. Our new T-0 is 635 p.m. Eastern time. 635 p.m. Eastern time. We are now counting down to lift off of Artemis II. From now on, you're going to hear two voices on the loops. If everything goes nominally, NASA test director Jeff Spalding, who's directly managing the launch team,

and Alex Pendelos, the GLS operator who closely monitors the software. He has the ability to stop and restart the countdown. A lot of people ask about whether there's a launch button. There certainly is not.

Houston, Flight and Rock, our new T-0 is 2235.12. Houston, Flight copies.

Rock copies.

2235.12.

Affirm.

There you heard confirmation of the exact T-0, 635 and 12 seconds PM Eastern time. Again, our T-0 is 635 and 12 seconds PM Eastern time. But as I was saying, there's no launch button, this is autonomous, but there is a button that keeps you from launching, and that button allows the GLS operator to pause the countdown outside of terminal count and during terminal count and submit terminal count and submit a hold to the next holding point.

So the clock won't stop right away if there's an issue. We'll go to the next stable holding point. This is how GLS configures the rocket and ground systems to a stable point where they can stop the countdown if that's needed. But right now, we are counting down. Our next big milestone looking to retract the crew access arm.

GLS is go for crew access arm retract. And there you see the crew access arm moving away. That's the path that the astronauts took to ingress into the rocket. Until this point, that was their way off the pad if they needed to evacuate. But now with that arm retracting, the backup transitions to a launch abort system. And they'll begin arming that shortly. Of course, the launch

abort system, great shot there of the crew access arm retracting away. The launch abort system is the tower at the top, and that's what would pull Orion and its crew off the top of the rocket in case of an emergency, whether it's on the ground or in flight. This is critical safety hardware that protects the lives of the astronauts.

Starting at T-minus six minutes, the GLS will start bringing that and other high-energy core stage pressurization. Weather is 90% go. The range is go. All systems are go. GLS is go for core stage tank pressurization. the replenish valve for the liquid hydrogen tank has now closed and that tank is beginning to pressurize to flight levels because that hydrogen is naturally boiling inside the tank. We'll get the liquid oxygen tank a little later in the count. Now the team is waiting for verification that if needed, the Artemis 2 crew could use the launch abort system to pull Orion safely off the top of the rocket in an emergency. Let's listen in for that call.

GLS verifies last capability available.

And CDR, do you copy?

CDR copies, last available. That's great news and you heard the NTD verify that with the commander of the mission. GLS is go for FTS arm. Now work is being done to arm the flight termination system. This is so the range safety can send a flight termination command if the rocket flies too far off track. There is a brief built-in delay so the launch abort system has time to pull the astronauts to safety first.

Go for LH2 high-flow bleed check.

All right, the high-25 engines, all four of them, are in the proper temperature range for launch. GLS is go for core stage APU start. Core stage APU start. Those are auxiliary power units, high-speed turbines which provide pressure to hydraulic pumps that steer the RS-25 engines. We're going to see a gimbal test a little later at T-minus 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

This is what allows that to happen. Coming up in about 20 seconds, we're listening for go for purge sequence four. That's a helium purge of the four core stage engines downstream of the propellant valve. This gets all the air and moisture out of there. GLS is go for purge sequence four. Moving through the milestones.

All is looking good. Coming up in just a few seconds, we're going to get that thrust vector control actuator test. Vector Control Actuator Test. This is a gimbling of the engines. There are the four RS-25s, three of them Shuttle Heritage, one of them built from shuttle parts. And there you see them moving. Now we're going to start moving the power from both the upper stage and the lower stage of the rocket to internal,

taking ground power away and now going to battery power

GLS is go for upper states

My power is removed from the rockets upper stage The ICPS and it's been switched to battery same milestone for the lower core stage coming up at T minus one minute and 30 seconds. Right now, the four person Artemis two crew is 248,000 miles away from the moon. And if all goes well, they will fly by it in six days.

GLS is go for core stage to internal power.

All right, there's the rocket's core stage, which houses three flight computers, is now on its own power. There's no more hold time because there's no more margin on these batteries, So we would have to recycle back to T minus 10 to recharge if we had a hold. One minute. Right now the rocket does not know what the T zero is, but coming up at T minus 33 seconds, control shifts from the ground launch sequencer to the rockets on board autonomous launch sequencer or ALS.

The rocket will count itself down, but honor any holds that could come from the ground. Now shortly after liftoff, Houston will take control of the rocket and my colleague Gary Jordan will take over commentary.

GLS, go for ALS.

Great call out. The rocket is on its own. Four brave explorers ready to ride the most powerful rocket NASA has ever launched. Sound suppression water is flowing. And here we go. 10, 9, 8, 7, RS-25 engines, 8, 4, 3, 2, 1, booster ignition.

And lift off. The crew of Artemis II now bound for the Moon. Humanity's next great voyage begins.

Good roll pitch.

Roger, roll pitch.

Houston, now controlling the flight of Integrity on the Artemis II mission around the moon.

Integrity, AMT high.

AMT high. AMT high. On time, passing 30 seconds into the flights. Integrity passes the alternate beacon. Target milestone. Mission Control Houston seeing good performance on the core of the engines. Space Launch System core stage. Integrity, three miles in altitude.

Traveling more than 1,200 miles per hour. Mission elapsed time, passing one minute, approaching Max Q.

On, Pons de Tullion. Stan, we have you loud and clear on Pons de Tullion. Have you the same.

Communication signal transfer confirmed as Integrity and its crew go supersonic. Approaching 90 seconds into the Artemis II mission. Integrity is 14 miles in altitude, 8 miles downrange, traveling more than 2600 miles per hour. One minute, 50 seconds of mission elapsed time standing by for main engine throttle down to 85 percent. I have a solid rocket booster separation expected at the two minute, nine second mark. We see throttle down.

Converged separation. Main engines throttling up. Guid guidance converged, performance nominal, upper stage RCS ready.

Copy all, Stan.

Integrity, SM priming complete.

SM priming complete.

Two minutes, 45 seconds of mission elapsed time into the Artemis 2 mission. Thrusters on integrity and upper stage confirmed in a ready state ahead of service module fairing separation. Three minutes into the flight. Now passing 5,000 miles per hour. Standing by for launch abort system jettison.

Houston, Integrity. Good last jettison. Great view. and use of integrity and last year's victory , and, and, and we see a sale of words and on the common line.

Outstanding, Stan. We have you the same.

Three minutes, 50 seconds into the flight of Artemis II, Wiseman, Glover, Cook, and Hansen cross the boundary to space with good comm checks. GPS signals acquired after last jettison now working on internal checks to verify accuracy. Flight dynamics officer analyzed the time

of main engine cutoff confirmed at 8 minutes, 2 seconds.

Time of MECO. Integrity, GPS processing. We're headed right at it.

Approaching five minutes into the flight, Commander Reid Wiseman confirms he has visuals of his destination. GPS guidance navigation and control software finishes internal checks and sends to navigation

channels.

On time now passing 5 minutes 20 seconds of mission elapsed time into the Artemis 2 mission. At this point three good main engines are all that's needed to carry integrity to a nominal main engine, And I'm on board stand. Good trajectory and engine performance. Booster officer will soon report the shutdown plan to flight director Judd Friedling expected at the seven minute mark. Integrity 78 miles in altitude, 460 miles down range. Integrity expect nominal shutdown. and the as expected. Again, the time of MECA was confirmed at 8 minutes 2 seconds into the flight. Seven minutes of mission elapsed time. And we're going to go ahead and abort.

Throttling down as we approach the abort once around option. Milestone at the 7 minute 30 second mark. Now 84 miles in altitude at 650 miles down range traveling more than 15,000 miles per hour.

Integrity AOA open. hour.

The window is now open for an abort once around option that would target splashdown in the and about 10 seconds remaining until the main engine cutoff of the space launch system core stage We see the same on board, Stan. Niko, core stage separated.

We see the same on board, Stan.

8 minutes 40 seconds into the flight, we have a nominal main engine cutoff heading in the right trajectory on the way to swing around the moon. Core stage has separated, done its job. The Space Launch System upper stage, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, still attached to the Orion spacecraft. Nine minutes of mission elapsed time. Integrity crew of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen now in orbit around the Earth at the beginning of their journey to the Moon.

And Terri Houston looking ahead to PRM numbers so far per the pad. and and the mission elapsed time Thank you. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good.

Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. We copy that Stan, good NEDS. And integrity Houston for PWD set up, just a reminder, halfway open on the secondary.

We copy that Stan, halfway open. Wiseman already passing some milestones. We have a good nozzle extension deployment system that is confirmed complete. We also have the visors are confirmed up now past the dynamic phase of flight that is ascent. The launch and entry suits that provided them an extra layer of protection. Now not as needed, they're going to raise those visors. And later in today's mission, they will begin to egress or get out of the suits to begin some of their initial tasks of activating some of the systems aboard in the Integrity spacecraft. It's passing 12 minutes of mission elapsed time. Again, the perigee raise maneuver that's targeted near 50 minutes of mission elapsed time, 49 minutes, 50 seconds. That's what the crew is going to be working towards the Commander Reid Wiseman pilot Victor Glover. We'll focus on preparing

for that milestone. In the meantime, Mission Specialists Christina Cook and Jeremy Hansen will start some of the activation of Environmental Control Light Support Systems. You may hear confirmation of their activation over the Orion to Earth communication network. .

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