All systems performed well in the key pre-launch test
The American Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared interesting news on its lunar program. The Orion spacecraft of NASA’s Artemis 2 lunar mission successfully completed its first power-on test on Monday, November 6, 2023.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), Orion’s switch-on marked a major milestone for the team that connected the U.S. crew module and the vehicle’s European Service Module (ESM) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in mid-October.
NASA activates Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft for first time before sending astronauts to the Moon
European module engineer Dominic Siruge said:
The power-up process is very fast. It’s not that different from plugging in all the appliances in your apartment and then turning on the lights to make sure everything is working. When astronauts use Orion next year, they will live in the crew module and be able to get power, water and other supplies from the service module.
The official Orion team blog states:
At NASA Kennedy, Artemis II Orion was powered up for the first time to confirm that both the service module and crew module were communicating with each other and that power was being distributed correctly throughout the spacecraft.
Orion is now undergoing a series of tests to ensure it is ready to carry people. Orion has flown into space twice before: on a test flight around Earth in 2014 and on the unmanned Artemis 1 lunar mission in 2022. In 2024, Orion will fly around the Moon with four astronauts on board. The crew will include Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.
