The Artemis II pilot spoke about manually piloting the Orion spacecraft
Artemis II mission pilot Victor Glover said that the mission team had entrusted the crew with manually piloting the Orion spacecraft during a demonstration of rendezvous operations while in orbit around the Moon. He shared this information on August 3 during a public event at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, according to Space.com.
The Artemis II mission lasted 10 days: it launched on April 1, flew around the Moon, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10. The crew consisted of Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. According to the publication, this was the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit in 53 years.
During the maneuvers, the crew controlled Orion, performing controlled approaches to and departures from the separated upper stage—the intermediate cryogenic engine stage. Glover explained that the crew members estimated the distance to the stage based on visual observations through the spacecraft’s windows and cameras on the cockpit displays. According to him, there was no radar or other digital distance-measuring system between Orion and the target.
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“That’s when we got the chance to pilot the spacecraft manually, rather than just relying on computers,” Glover said. He added that the task required the participation of all four crew members. “The Artemis II team trusted us to fly this way. I’m still amazed by that trust,” the pilot noted.
Weizman reported that the crew also gathered important data on the suitability of Orion—named Integrity—for housing four people: the operation of life support systems, nutrition, rest, and work on board. According to him, these findings will be used to prepare for Artemis III.
At the event, which drew about 8,500 people, Lori Glaze, NASA’s associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, stated that Artemis III is scheduled for mid-2027. She said the mission is intended to demonstrate docking with one or two lunar landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX.
