Manitoba planetarium astronomer optimistic Artemis II mission won’t face more major delays

Ahead of the Artemis II launch, Maralee speaks with Scott Young from the Manitoba Museum about its significance and the watch party in Winnipeg Wednesday.

A planetarium astronomer at the Manitoba Museum says he’s optimistic that Artemis II will launch this week without further major delays.

That comment comes after NASA delayed the mission—the first crewed journey around the moon in over 50 years—which was intended to launch in February. The setback was attributed to hydrogen fuel leaks and helium flow problems. The launch date is currently set for Wednesday with liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“I’m feeling good about it … they’ve solved a lot of the issues,” said Scott Young, who is also the past president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. “I think we’re going to be going this week.”

Young said the 10-day mission is intended to test NASA’s Orion spacecraft with crew members on board, which will loop around the moon before returning to earth.

“Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, there was the big race to the moon, and it was done in a way to just sort of get there and make the check mark as quickly as possible, without any thought of the future, of being able to do it sustainably or regularly,” Young said.

He said that in the decades since, goals have shifted toward long-term exploration and that missions to the moon now serve as a testing ground for equipment.

“And so, it’s sort of like your backyard practice, essentially,” he said.

Young said even if the launch doesn’t occur as scheduled Wednesday, the window of opportunity—involving ideal alignment between the earth and moon—will remain in place for another five consecutive days.

“Everything looks like it’s okay, but you could still have a random thunderstorm come into Florida and cancel things, or you could still have a technical glitch that comes up,” he said.

“And then, if they still don’t get off the ground by then, there’s another window of opportunity that opens up right at the end of April going into May.”

Artemis II’s crew is made up of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Young said Hansen’s appointment to the mission was somewhat surprising, adding that inaugural spacecraft flights are typically reserved exclusively for Americans.

“But here, you’ve basically got a Canadian right on the very first flight of the spacecraft. That’s pretty special,” Young said.

“Jeremy will be the most traveled Canadian in history at this point when he loops around the moon.”

With files from CTV’s Maralee Caruso