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13 Minutes
Artemis II: 3. Man around the Moon
00:41:19
Astronaut Jeremy Hansen talks to the BBC before the space launch
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- [00:00]
Tim Peake
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
- [00:06]
Kristen Fisher
When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system,
- [00:11]
Maggie Adairin
they matter even more.
- [00:13]
Kristen Fisher
Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery, so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
- [00:36]
Maggie Adairin
It's 2009 and we're in the German mountains. A man straps himself into a car on the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself, it's time to
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Tim Peake
put my balls on the dashboard as
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Maggie Adairin
he starts the engine.
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Tim Peake
In 15 minutes, he's in an ambulance, unconscious. In 15 years, he's a billionaire.
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Maggie Adairin
This is Toto Wolff, Formula One's most powerful team boss and the breakout star of Drive to Survive.
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Tim Peake
This week on Good Bad Billionaire, How Toto Wolff made his billions. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Welcome to 13 Minutes presents Artemis 2. From the BBC World Service, I'm astronaut Tim Peake.
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Maggie Adairin
I'm space scientist Maggie Adairin. We're following the story of the first crewed mission around the moon in more than 50 years with a new episode every day.
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Tim Peake
And hello again to space journalist Kristen Fisher joining us live from the launch site in Florida.
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Kristen Fisher
Hi, Maggie. Hi, Tim. It's launch day. Can you believe it?
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Tim Peake
It's very exciting.
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Maggie Adairin
Later on in the show we're going to be talking about the Artemis 2 crew, the four moon bound humans. But Kristen, today is a big day. Launch is set to happen later on tonight. What's the latest?
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Kristen Fisher
The latest is that all systems are looking go for launch. The weather is beautiful. I was just up on the rooftop of the hotel that I'm staying at and there was no wind, no, no clouds. The sun is out, so weather's looking really good. Of course, this is Florida, things can always change. But for now, the weather looking great for launch. And then of course, on the technical side of things, everything appears to be going well. This is such a complicated vehicle and yet so far they have run into no snags. And then just from like a, a vibe check if you guys would like a vibe check of the area if you. It is, it does feel different. Today I am wearing a T shirt. That was my mom's shirt. I know our listeners can't see it, but it says I've got it on the front and on the back is launch fever. And this is the official shirt from the first launch of the Space shuttle back in 1981. And launch fever can have such negative connotations. You know, this thought of putting speed ahead of safety. But in this case and in the way it was intended, there is this launch fever. And you can feel it here. People are just excited for this moment and what it means for, for all of us earthlings.
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Tim Peake
Yeah, it is so exciting. We all get the impression that, you know, tonight is the night, it's looking great for launch. And you're wearing a baseball cap as well. What's that baseball cap there, Kristen?
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Kristen Fisher
It says launch party. And this is a live launch show that I'm hosting from the space Bar, the rooftop of this hotel. So I'm decked out in all sorts of swag. I'm like a NASCAR driver today.
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Tim Peake
Fantastic. Well, the excitement's building here too. And the countdown clock, of course, has already been running as they go through the checks and the drills. But one of the big events was fueling, or tanking, as we call it in rockets. So where are we with the situation with putting fuel in this rocket, Kristin?
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Kristen Fisher
We have started fueling the SLS core stage. Remember, over the last few hours, they've been cooling it down to the proper temperature so that it can accept this extremely cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. And the, the moment that fueling begins is really a critical moment in this countdown. And that started about two hours ago at 7:30 in the morning Eastern time. Really a critical milestone. And so that's happened. And it takes a few hours to fill this massive rocket with all the fuel that is needed to propel it up into space. And so that's really going to be what we're watching over the next few minutes and hours is how does this fueling go? Because you'll remember Tim and Maggie in previous launch attempts of Artemis I and in the wet dress rehearsals for Artemis 2. It is at this moment that the problems start to peek out. The gremlins come out. This is when the hydrogen tries to leak and escape. And so if there are going to be issues with this first launch attempt of Artemis 2, this is likely when over the next few hours they're gonna start to come out.
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Maggie Adairin
I guess this really is the busiest day of the mission. And getting into orbit, although that is terrifying, is only the start of sort of a jam packed few hours. So let's run through the immediate events scheduled for after takeoff. So I think just about eight minutes in the core stage that we talked about yesterday will be detached.
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Tim Peake
Yes. All this excitement building for just over eight minutes of a launch sequence. But of course it's going to get really busy then because to begin with, they're going to get launched into a low Earth orbit. Now this is similar to the orbit that the International Space Station is in right now, and that just takes an hour and a half to go round the Earth. And so the solar panels, they're going to deploy on the Orion spacecraft and they're going to use the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, or just icps, which makes it a lot easier to pronounce. They're going to use that engine to lift them further into a high Earth orbit. Now that's called the apogee rays burn. And apogee is simply meaning the, the highest point of your orbit.
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Kristen Fisher
And then after that, the icps, that interim cryogenic propulsion stage, the upper stage of the launch rocket, it's going to detach, but it's not going to go very far. The crew is then going to flex test the maneuverability of the Orion spacecraft, turning it around 180 degrees to simulate docking, pointing that little pointy side in with the now floating nearby icps.
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Maggie Adairin
This is because future Artemis missions will be required to dock in space, somewhere out around the moon with a future lunar landing craft.
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Tim Peake
Absolutely. And I know pilot Victor Glover, he's going to be really looking forward to that because he gets his hands on the controls of that Orion spacecraft and any pilot just wants to be flying. So I'm really excited about that part of the test and that demonstration. Once it's over, which will be about 4 hours and 30 minutes after liftoff, there'll be a further small burn from Integrity, which is the Orion spacecraft. And that will just take them away from that icps. And so they get a few more hours of checking out life support systems, communication, navigation systems, and they get to have a few hours sleep, a real luxury, of course. And in the middle of the night, another small burn of the engines which will raise the perigee. Now the perigee is the lowest part of their orbit and that's just to set up the spacecraft to put it in the right place for the big burn we're all waiting for. And the big burn is the trans lunar injection, which won't happen until flight day two.
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Maggie Adairin
After all the excitement, they get another sort of while to sleep. But, but it's going to be an incredibly long 24 hours. So before all this starts though, Kristin, what will be the crew be doing sort of today, the day before launch?
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Kristen Fisher
Well, they're waking up in crew quarters, which is the same crew quarters that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin woke up in all those years ago, back in 19, before their historic mission to the moon, Apollo 11. Unbelievable that the history in that whole area and that building in particular, they wake up, they have a good old fashioned breakfast of their choosing. The people that prepare them breakfast, they wear shirts with patches of all the missions that they have prepared breakfast for. It's a real family feel. And then they have some final briefings and checks and then they're going to go into the suit up room where they get suited up in their big orange spacesuits before walking out the famous walkout where their friends and family and fellow NASA employees will get to wave to them and say their goodbyes. And then they make their way to the Astro van, I believe it's called. It's a, you know, remember the Airstream trailers of the 1960s and 70s? It, in my humble opinion, it doesn't look quite as cool as that. It is still an Airstream made vehicle, but just it doesn't have that sleek silver feel that we're used to. And then they'll make the roughly four mile drive to the pad and board the Orion spacecraft about four hours before launch. And, you know, I've learned enough to know that you never imagine how an astronaut is feeling. Tim. I once made the mistake of asking Victor Glover how he felt right after he'd been assigned to the crew. I was like, are you excited? And he was like, no, he was like, I'm focused, you know. So Tim, how are you feeling the morning of your launch?
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Tim Peake
The launch day, there is such a mixture of emotions and we're also excited. Everybody around them will be excited. They will pick up on that, you know, they will be excited, but they'll go through this real transition. And that's where you've had the press briefings, you've had the emotional farewells with your family, you have the ride out to the launch pad. As you said there, Kristen, you've got all this going on. There'll be some nerves, there'll be some apprehension, but there'll then be a moment where things start to calm down and the number of people around them will just reduce to a team of about 10. And they'll be taking the ride up to the top of the rocket and slowly that buzz, that fever, that excitement will start to die down. And that's the bit that Victor's talking about, Mission focus. You know, by the time they walk across that gangway into the Orion spacecraft, they will all be absolutely, absolutely focused on the mission. You've kind of said your goodbyes. You've had the last PR interviews. You've left that buzz and excitement behind you, and it's now just, you know, clarity of thought, mission focus, and that. That's a really, really good, good place to be in.
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Kristen Fisher
I just got goosebumps listening to you describe that. And just trying to imagine, just one by one, the people going away. And then it's just the four of you. And even though you've rehearsed it dozens of times, man, it's gotta feel different on launch day.
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Tim Peake
Oh, yeah. Y. You're so right there because you've done this in the simulator. Everybody's been through it before, but, you know, this time it's for real.
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Maggie Adairin
And so today, I think we want to concentrate on the crew, the four astronauts who'll be making this journey on the Orion capsule.
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Tim Peake
Yes. And these four incredible people, they are Commander Reid Wiseman, we've got pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Cook, and Jeremy Hansen.
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Kristen Fisher
And Reid Wiseman, as the commander, is really the most senior member of the team. He's in charge of the overall mission success and really the safety of everybody on board. And he. He's been an astronaut for 16 years, has six months of spaceflight experience. And despite that, I just learned this. Tim and Maggie. I don't know if I believe it. He says he's afraid of heights when he's on the ground. You're going to be floating above Earth. I guess it is different though, right, Tim? I mean, maybe you could speak to this. The sensation of falling on Earth is probably different than floating in space.
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Tim Peake
I've got a small admission to make here that's I'm exactly the same. I really don't like heights on Earth. I do rock climbing, but it really, you know, it gets the adrenaline going. I feel that sensation of height. So it's quite strange. But I remember being told by, I think it was Chris Cassidy, he said, we're not afraid of heights, we're simply afraid of falling. And when you're out in space and you realize you can let go of those handrails when you're out on a spacewalk and you're not actually going to fall, all that fear goes away. So you don't feel afraid of heights. But. So I do sympathise with Reid there.
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Maggie Adairin
I suppose in space you're constantly falling towards the Earth, but that's what puts you into orbit. So maybe perhaps you shouldn't think of it that way.
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Kristen Fisher
Yeah, you just don't feel it. You're not consciously aware of the fact that you're falling. But Tim, back to Reid Wiseman and his role as the commander. When you're a part of a crew, I mean, obviously the commander is the leader. But what is their relationship, the crew's relationship going to be like with Reid, especially given the fact that they have been training together for such a long time. I mean, about three years.
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Tim Peake
I mean, these four, they're going to be so close. They will be working together, as you said there, Kristen, a long time. They'll know each other's. They'll know each other so well, they'll be able to pick up on all of these sort of small nonverbal cues, even that happen in the spacecraft, just at the tone of voice. So they'll have a fantastic working relationship. And the commander's job is, yes, to give that direction and yes, to give that leadership when it's needed. But that really only happens in moments of emergency or extreme danger. Most of the time everybody is just working together like this smooth, well oiled machine. So they're going to get on fantastically well as a crew.
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Maggie Adairin
Another astronaut is Christina Cook, and she'll become the first woman to travel to the moon. She's also the crew member who has spent the most time in space because she spent one year aboard the International Space Station in 2019. Now, it's quite interesting because I got an opportunity to speak to her when she returned back to Earth and she said that she felt more isolated on Earth than she had on the International Space Station because of lockdown. So I think it's quite an interesting dynamic when you're up there. So along with Jeremy Hanson, Christine is one of the mission specialists. Now, Kristin, both your parents held that position on their space shuttle flights. So what does it mean to be a mission specialist?
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Kristen Fisher
It means that you specialize in whatever the mission asks of you, right? I mean, it can mean a variety of different things for a variety of different missions. You know, for instance, on my mom's flight back in 1984, it meant that she was in charge of operating the robotic arm from Canada to assist in the retrieval and deployment of satellites on this mission. You know, Christina has a different role. There is no robotic arm. And so what she's going to be doing is basically whatever is needed in the moment. And she tremendous experience as an engineer and as somebody who knows how to survive in very difficult and unusual circumstances. She's wintered in Antarctica, something that Reid Wiseman said he was just amazed by and has asked her tons of questions about, but in particular for Artemis, too. One of the things that Christine is going to be responsible for is during the Prox Op operations, Proxops, as they're called, this is the moment when Victor Glover and perhaps Reid Wiseman are going to take over manual controls of Orion. Christina Cook is responsible for the timing of that and really the procedural discipline. She keeps everybody on track on time. She's also responsible for setting up Orion's systems during that critical translunar injection, or tli, burn, which essentially sets Orion on its trajectory to the moon. And then during the lunar flyby, she's going to be responsible for a bunch of those scientific observations. So she does a variety of different things. But one thing that I just have really enjoyed when I listen to her speak and her crew members speak, is just the utmost admiration and respect that her crewmates have for her. As somebody who, who, as you said, has the most spaceflight experience, yes, it
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Maggie Adairin
was wonderful to meet her. In fact, I got to meet all the crew on one occasion, which was incredibly exciting. But, yes. So we've also got Victor Glover, who'll become the first black person to travel to the moon. And as Tim said, his primary job is sort of the pilot of the mission. And so he'll be testing the maneuverability of the Orion spacecraft, and as you said, but he can't wait to get his hands on that.
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Tim Peake
And I was speaking to Reid Wiseman as well, recently, and just to follow up on what we were talking about, how close they are as a crew and how good Reid is as a commander, he wants to share those responsibilities out. He wants everybody to know each other's job. So all four of them are going to get to fly that spacecraft at various points of the mission because there are small adjustment burns to be made on the way to the moon, on the way back from the moon, setting themselves up. So that's something I think as well, helps you to gel together where you actually really appreciate each other's roles. Obviously, they'll be doing. Doing a lot of science as well inside that spacecraft. They'll be using their own bodies as guinea pigs, effectively testing out radiation limits and growing skin cells and things like this. So there's a mixture of things to be done around the crew, and I think any good crew sort of spreads that load out.
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Jeremy Hansen
Yes.
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Kristen Fisher
One more thing that I keep thinking about, and it's something that was talked about by the crew at their very last press conference. Was this idea of the first. And since we're talking about Victor and Christina, you know, you're going to have the. The first woman and the first black astronaut traveling into deep space. And somebody asked them about these firsts. And, you know, I thought what Victor and Christina said was so poignant. They said, you know, we do think about it, but we're not in this for the superlatives. And Victor said, I'm quoting here. He said, one day, I hope we don't have to talk about these firsts. And I just thought it was a really interesting way to think about it because, you know, us in the media and the public, we can be so consumed without the first. This, the first that they're looking forward to the day when, you know, humans aren't even thinking about things like that
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Maggie Adairin
because it becomes just sort of a matter of the norm that everybody has the opportunity to get out there. I think that is always the desire. We're not there yet. And so it is sort of a privilege to mark these firsts as well.
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Tim Peake
Absolutely. And I think we were talking just the other day about how we're even referring to the Artemis mission. We're kind of saying, we're going back to the moon, we're doing this, we're doing that. And it's because we feel ownership. We feel kind of. But it's not just looking at NASA. This isn't just NASA going to the moon. This is us going to the moon. And so in many respects, it's nice that we can all feel part of that mission. And I know that both, many of the crew have spoken about this moment when they're on the far side of the moon. They're going to have this 45 minutes of no communications with Earth, this blackout in communication, and that's a moment where they hope that people on Earth will just reflect, come together in unity about what an incredible achievement this is. And it's something that we are doing as planet Earth altogether.
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Maggie Adairin
I think the Apollo missions sort of did that. It was sort of a global moment where everybody was watching, and it's just love that. Lovely to have those to bring everybody together. But unfortunately, they're a bit few and far between, but hopefully this is one of them.
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Tim Peake
I just wanted to pick up on going back to the. The orbits that they're going to be flying, because I think it's important also to point out that there are off ramps, as you would say, Kristen, in America, to this mission, if things aren't going completely to plan. So assuming that the launch Goes smoothly and they go into this low Earth orbit, which is only 90 minutes, and then they do a burn that takes them into this very elliptical orbit, this very high orbit. And that actually just to put that in context, that's 70,000 kilometers away from Earth. They'll travel on that highly elliptical orbit. That's twice as far as geostationary orbit where we have lots of comm satellites and out there. So that's a really, really high orbit. Earth is actually going to disappear and seem quite small in their window just on this Earth orbit. Now, if things don't go according to plan, they do have the scope to just stay in that orbit for another day to set themselves up before going off to the moon. And that's why we will have to stay flexible as we follow this mission. You know, we hope things go according to plan and we think we know when they're going to go to the moon and when they're going to come back. But of course, if they need a bit more time to check things out to sure things are safe, they can either spend another day in that highly elliptical orbit or they could make the decision to come back home and come back to Earth at that point as well.
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Maggie Adairin
I think it's nice to have these sort of moments of safety check and everything, all systems go before they proceed to the next, to the next part. Just to make sure that everything is tickety boo, to use a term. Yeah. And. But they can return safely.
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Kristen Fisher
I had a chance to interview the NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman last night and I asked him, you know, at what moment, what moment are you looking forward to the most in this mission? And at what moment will you kind of feel better, breathe a sigh of relief? Is it when they get to orbit? Is it after they hit the tli, the translunar injection, and they make sure that they don't need to return to Earth early? What is it? And he just said no. He's like, the only moment I am really looking forward to is when I see the parachutes deploy and they splash down safely back on Earth. It is a risky mission and it's nice knowing that they have those moments before they go on that very high, deep trajectory to the moon that they can come back to Earth in the event of a problem. Because as we've been saying, this is the, this is the first time humans have ever been inside this spacecraft and flown it. And so I'm sure, and they fully expect that, that some issues will pop up.
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Tim Peake
Our final crew member is Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. And last week BBC News science editor Rebecca Morell and myself, we got to have a chat with Jeremy whilst he was in quarantine in Houston, and we played a snippet of this in our first episode. But here's much more of our conversation with him for 30 minutes on the BBC World.
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Maggie Adairin
It's 2009 and we're in the German mountains. A man straps himself into a car on the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself, it's time to
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Tim Peake
put my balls on the dashboard as
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Maggie Adairin
he starts the engine.
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Tim Peake
In 15 minutes, he's in an ambulance, unconscious. In 15 years, he's a billionaire.
- [23:07]
Maggie Adairin
This is Toto Wolff, Formula One's most powerful team boss and the breakout star of Drive to Survive.
- [23:13]
Tim Peake
This week on Good Bad Billionaire, How Toto Wolff made his billions. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
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Rebecca Morell
Jeremy, the thing I can't quite get over is that this is going to be your first trip to space and it is such a big trip. How does it feel that your space debut is a mission to the moon? How did you feel when you first found out you were going to be heading to the moon?
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Jeremy Hansen
Well, obviously pretty excited, as Tim could attest. As an astronaut, you just want to go execute the mission, whatever that mission is, and so you're not too choosy. It's like my colleague and crewmate Victor always says, you want to be on the next thing smoking that leaves the planet. But it was pretty humbling to be assigned to this mission on behalf of, of Canada and to kind of think about it from that perspective, that this would be my first mission, to be the first time that, you know, a non American had left Earth orbit. And so that was very humbling to think about, but also pretty exciting. When I sat in the backyard and I looked at the moon, I have to admit, it just looked a little different to me. It looked further away. I was starting to think about the realities of how hard it is to get there. That's pretty neat to wrap your mind around.
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Rebecca Morell
Yeah, it's not. Not something that many people get to think about as well.
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Jeremy Hansen
Yeah.
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Tim Peake
And I think, you know, as you mentioned, they're looking at the moon. When we think of the Artemis Program, we also naturally reflect back to Apollo and, you know, despite the enormity of what those missions accomplished back then in the, in the 60s and 70s, it was very much one nation's mission and it had geopolitical motivations. But as you mentioned, you're going to be the first Canadian to get that close to the moon. And you're going to be guided there by a European service module. And I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the kind of international collaboration that is involved in this mission.
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Jeremy Hansen
Yes, I've spoken about it a lot, that I just firmly believe that this collaborative example that we set in the space program is so valuable for humanity. Our stated goal as humans has got to be working together to tackle problems and to lift one another up. And. And I'm sure the news stories that surround this one, they're not as uplifting, but this one is. It is an example of us collaborating on a global scale and setting that example, doing that hard work now. And how do we do hard things together when it comes to something like human space exploration? I think arguably, we can all admit it would be a little easier if you just had all the resources in one country and you just went off and did it. It's harder to bring countries together from around the world to accomplish these goals. Like you mentioned, Tim, we're flying on the European service module. It's just complicated to bring all that engineering together from these different places. But once you figure out how to do that hard part, the rest is easier because you are going together and you're bringing more minds, you're bringing more solutions, more resources together. That's the key that we're working on. The secret sauce for humanity's future is how to do these hard things together. We often speak about as a crew. Artemis 2 is extraordinary. We're going to return to the moon. Four humans in deep space, fly around the far side, see the Earth from the perspective of the moon, But. But that's just the next step. It just gets more interesting from here on. And just imagine what we as humans can do next as we collaborate together.
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Tim Peake
I know, Jeremy, you and the other crew members, you would have spent many, many long hours training together and understanding each other's roles. And I was wondering, as a mission specialist, both yourself and Christina, are there any particular tasks that you both have to do during the mission?
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Jeremy Hansen
The most focused tasks that are specific to who does them, of course, are for the commander and pilot for launch and entry, because we're strapped into our seats, so that's the easiest one to understand. So Reid and Victor will pilot the craft through those phases of the mission. But once we get to space, since this was a test flight and since we had the time to train all four crew, Reed, our commander, made a very intentional decision that he wanted all four crew members to be fully trained on everything and to actually do it through the mission. So even though we have these names, we actually all try everything. We all do manual control and piloting of the spacecraft at some point. We have all these different burns. So, for example, like for the translunar injection, which is a big burn for our perigee raised burn at the end of our really long first day, those are burns that Christina and I are responsible for. So we will be at the displays for those and working through that. But then we also cycle through all the other tasks. Like toilet maintenance gets cycled every day, as you know, Tim. Like, everybody's got to work on the toilet and take care of that. And so we do everything, every single job you can imagine on there.
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Rebecca Morell
You've got to ask about the loo. My daughter's obsessed with how you use the loo out there. But I mean, onto a more serious matter. I mean, clearly there is a risk involved with human space exploration. And this is the first time that humans will have phone on the space launch system in the Orion spacecraft. How do we approach this subject with your family? You know, how do you talk about risk with them and how are they doing at this time?
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Jeremy Hansen
We have had those conversations and they're challenging, but they're maybe not as hard as I might have imagined they would be. It's a lot like life that we all go through, that we live with a lot of uncertainty in our lives. We take a lot of things for granted. But when we step back for a moment, we realize these things can have these bad outcomes. You watch them happen in the world every single day. And so when you kind of break it down practically, I think it helps them and myself as humans to just sort of think about it from that perspective. And then. But to be honest, it is really risky to go and fly around the moon. It's over 400,000 kilometers, or it's about 400,000 kilometers away. It's an extraordinary distance to be away from home. There's so much energy involved to get there. Controlling that much energy is just inherently risky. We do a great job of it, but all along the way of the program, you accept risks. You say, this isn't perfect, but we think we can manage it. But at the end of the day, every time you take a risk, you have to be. You have to also acknowledge it could come to fruition, even if it's unlikely that could happen. Or three of them could happen, and they stack up and you have a loss of crew. And so this is a very acute risk period for me. And I wanted my family to understand that and What I wanted them most to understand is that they will be okay. You know, we've, we've done the homework here. We've dotted the I's, crossed the T's, administratively. They will be okay. We've made sure of that. And it'll be really tough. There'll be a period of mourning. But what's important for me to know going to this mission is that they understand that they can lean on each other and get through it and come out this other side.
- [30:26]
Rebecca Morell
Okay, thank you for sharing that. I mean, I think we see people travel to space so frequently, you almost forget about the risks involved. And they must be difficult conversations to.
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Jeremy Hansen
To have, but important.
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Tim Peake
Hugely. I remember having the same conversations with my family prior to launch and Rebecca telling me that she always felt that being an astronaut was far safer than being a test pilot. I'm not sure about flying around the moon, though. But last year, Jeremy, I had the chance to go to the centrifuge at RAF Cranwell and I asked them to put me through the SLS G launch profile, which is brilliant, fun, really exciting to do any rocket launch in the centrifuge. But of course, you're going to experience this for real with all the noise or the vibration and all that kind of the sensation, sensationary inputs you're going to have. So I was wondering, just on a raw level, what your thoughts are about feeling about sitting on top of such a powerful rocket, NASA's most powerful rocket built to date. And what parts of the mission are you most looking forward to?
- [31:35]
Jeremy Hansen
Yeah, when it comes to riding the rocket, what is really kind of fun to think about is we don't exactly know what to expect. Yes, the vehicle has flown once with no humans on it and data was collected, but the vehicle is slightly different, things have changed and nothing really captures the full experience. We don't imagine anyway. And you've got these solid rocket boosters, which we know from the shuttle days. The people who flew shuttle, they are just real. They create a lot of vibration, They're a very rumbly ride. But the big thing is we won't know if that's normal. I think as this thing vibrates itself and you're like, is it coming apart or is this okay? There's nobody to ask what it's going to exactly feel like. And so we're just going to have to have faith that whatever we're experiencing is probably normal unless we're convinced it's not. So that'll be an interesting mental experience. I think doing that, the Things I'm really excited to see. Even in the first, you know, the first 45 minutes of this flight, we fly out to probably close to 2,000 kilometers from the planet. The International Space Station's about 400. So we get some pretty extraordinary views even in that first 45 minutes. And those would be my first views of the planet from space. I'll see it go from pretty close to all, you know, pretty far away. And then within 12 hours, we're going to be basically out at 60,000 kilometers from the planet. That would be extraordinary. And then, as I was mentioning before, we'll fly around the moon over 400,000 km away and look back at the planet in the background of a lunar foreground, which I think will be an extraordinary human experience. And I hope humanity will stop for a moment when four humans are on the far side of the moon and just look at some of the imagery that we are sharing and just be reminded that we can do a better job as humans of just lifting each other up, not destroying, but creating together. I know Artemis 2 is not going to fix it. I'm realistic about that. But at least if we can be reminded of what's possible in a time like this, I hope that humanity will pause for a moment.
- [33:52]
Tim Peake
Well said. And I hope so too, and I think they will. I think the world will be watching and be with you on that mission. I just wanted to pick up a bit on what you said about, you know, you're going to be the first ones to experience this rocket ride. I remember Jeff Williams, he spoke to me the night before undocking from the space station and re entering the atmosphere. And he talked me through it step by step, and I was so grateful that he did, because, you know, when the bells and whistles are going off and the bangs and the vibrations and the noises. So I do sympathize that you're going to be the ones who will be able to pass this information down, but you won't actually have anyone to tell you that to begin with. And launch day itself, it's going to be for you, a very long day. You're going to have many hours of work before you even launch. And then you go into a very busy host launch sequence of events. And I know one of the major events, and you mentioned this earlier, was this translunar injection. And that's the point where you fully commit to going around the moon. So I was wondering, in that very busy period, what's the kind of go no go criteria that you have to actually push that button and go for tli.
- [35:03]
Jeremy Hansen
Obviously it just comes down to looking at our overall systems on the vehicle and making sure we have at that point before we go for the transdoor injection, redundancy to survivability. So if we are down to our last system that's keeping us alive, we won't leave Earth orbit. We'll probably do another turnaround in this one day orbit and then come back in a case like that. So things that, you know, things that would cause us not to go would be like loss of redundancy on our carbon dioxide removal system, a loss of redundancy in our propellant systems. Maybe we bled out some of our propellant and we're down to the last string of thrusters, for example, or engines that can bring us back safely to Earth. And those are the kinds of things that the ground will look at with us and then make a decision that we have the redundancy for an eight day mission. Because like you said, Tim, once you accelerate to 39 times the speed of sound, you're going somewhere, you're going far and you don't have the energy to just, you know, you can't just do a U turn and come home right away. There are some off ramps that we can try, but even those are not quick. And so, and they, and they're dangerous in that they are major, major burns. There's a lot of risk and trying to turn around. In a lot of ways it's safer to do what Apollo 13 did with their malfunction is to ride it out for the whole trip around the moon. And so, yeah, once we make that decision, we've taken on a lot of risk.
- [36:32]
Rebecca Morell
Yeah, I was going to ask about that actually. I mean, it's not quite a point of no return. I mean, yes, a return because you're using the gravity of the moon to bring you back round again. But it does become really hard to get home quickly after that.
- [36:48]
Jeremy Hansen
It really does. Yeah. The best you can do if right away, after you burn to head to the moon right away you decide to come home. You can maybe get home in a and a day, but as the hours tick by after you accelerate to Mach 39, it's many days before you can get home. In a lot of cases, better to just go around the moon and come back.
- [37:10]
Rebecca Morell
When do you think that you'll have a moment to pause and think about the enormity of this all? I mean, is it going to be when you're close up with the moon or is it going to be when you're safely back on Earth again at the end of your mission.
- [37:25]
Jeremy Hansen
I don't know, Becky, you'll have to ask me after I've had glimpses of it. You know, you, you are just so focused on the job as an operator, even in training you, I think I do forget the enormity of what is about to occur. And then you protect yourself a little bit from it because a, it hasn't happened. It's not, you know, it's not done until it's done. And so I don't know when it'll hit me. I've had glimpses of it when people like you ask me and you ask questions like that and you put it that way and I'm like, gosh, yeah, I guess you're right. But maybe when I get back and we're. We're hugging each other as a crew, maybe it'll sink in then what has actually happened. And, you know, I'm glad you bring it up because it's just such a good opportunity to reflect on what is. What has happened to bring us here. You know, the four people will see the four faces. But gosh, everyone knows it takes thousands of people to make this happen. It's extraordinarily hard to send people to the Moon. We joke and I know there are lots of non believers about the Apollo program, but I'm a believer. I firmly believe we went to the moon in the Apollo days. But it does make you question because it's extraordinary what they did. It is literally just so hard. And we are facing those same challenges. It hasn't gotten any easier. Yes, we have better technology, but it's still really complicated. And so it takes a big team of people and you just can't help but admire them. You see them toiling away and the solutions they're coming up with. And then they solve it. And then all of a sudden somebody realizes, no, what if this happens? And now it's all broken again. And then they go, they solve it again. And it's just like this continuous cycle of people overcoming challenge. And it's really beautiful to watch what makes you proud of them and gives you hope.
- [39:11]
Tim Peake
Jeremy, thank you so much for your time today. It's been fascinating talking to you. We will continue to follow your mission closely and w you and the crew, a safe and successful mission. Speak to you soon.
- [39:22]
Jeremy Hansen
Yeah, thanks for spending some time with me.
- [39:26]
Tim Peake
Now, we've been asking our guests what they would take up with them if they were going on a flight around the moon. And that's because this is a question that the crew themselves have answered. So let's have a listen to Jeremy, Reid, Victor and Christina's answers.
- [39:41]
Jeremy Hansen
One of the most meaningful things is the four moon pendants that I gifted my wife and three children, I guess, two years ago now. And they wore them for a while. I collected them back this summer, and they're on that vehicle right now. Rolling to the pad, I have a blank piece of paper and a pen, pencil, and I can't wait to write some thoughts on that. I don't know what to expect, and I don't want to go in with any preconceived notions. So I know exactly where that note card is, and I can't wait to jot some notes on it. My bible and an heirloom for each of my daughters and my wife.
- [40:13]
Kristen Fisher
For me, it's handwritten notes from people that I love. The idea that I can hold in my hands way out there, or in my case, in the past on the International Space Station, I can hold in my hand something that they held in their hands and drew on or wrote on that is really special to me. So I hope to find some in my care package when I get there.
- [40:35]
Maggie Adairin
I guess Jeremy was like you, Kristen, sort of taking jewelry.
- [40:40]
Kristen Fisher
You guys, you listeners can't see this, but I'm holding up my earth pendant. Jeremy has moon pendant pendants. But my. My parents flew this in space on both of their missions. And I. I always wear it on launch day.
- [40:52]
Tim Peake
That is so special. And I have to say I loved Christina's answer because something that my wife, my wife Rebecca did for me, and this was so special, and I had no idea it was going to happen. And we launched on the 15th of December, so just before Christmas. And in the first care package that was already on board the space station waiting for me was a small cloth advent calendar. And in each of the pockets, rather than a chocolate or a sweet or something, there was a small letter written by friends and family. And it was on the kind of thin, blue air mail paper. And so to actually hold something in space and read a handwritten note from friends and family whilst you're feeling so remote, so detached from Earth, it's a really special thing. So I. I really hope that Christina does have something in her care package
- [41:40]
Kristen Fisher
like that, that is so sweet. Tim, what a lovely wife you have.
- [41:46]
Tim Peake
She is incredibly thoughtful and I'm very lucky. Well, that's all we have time for today. We've got a really big evening ahead of us. So thank you once again for joining us, Kristen, and see you tomorrow.
- [42:06]
Kristen Fisher
Thank you. See you guys tomorrow. And hopefully we will have these astronauts in orbit.
- [42:16]
Tim Peake
A reminder that we're doing an episode every day for this mission. So do subscribe if you can. But that's it for today. So goodbye from me, Tim Peaker.
- [42:24]
Maggie Adairin
Me, Maggie Adairin. The producers are Alex Manfield and Sophie Ormiston. And the serious editor is Martin Smith.
- [42:34]
Tim Peake
And our thanks to Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg at Bleeding Fingers music for our epic theme Music Team Minutes presents
- [42:42]
Maggie Adairin
Artemis 2 is a BBC audio science production for the BBC World Service. It's 2009 and we're in the German mountains. A man straps himself into a car on the world's most dangerous racetrack. He whispers to himself, it's time to
- [43:13]
Tim Peake
put my balls on the dashboard as
- [43:15]
Maggie Adairin
he starts the engine.
- [43:17]
Tim Peake
In 15 minutes, he's in an ambulance, unconscious. In 15 years, he's a billionaire.
- [43:22]
Maggie Adairin
This is Toto Wolff, Formula One's most powerful team boss and the breakout star of Drive to Survive.
- [43:28]
Tim Peake
This week on Good Bad Billionaire, How Toto Wolff made his billions. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts.