The BIG Story

The story that's taking over headlines this week is the Artemis II launch this week. I've noticed it not just on the space news sites I watch regularly but also on TV news channels. While I'm certain that the Cape is working actively on preparing for the mission, I haven't seen the words "the countdown has begun" - or the same meaning. But let me drop a quote from Space.com: " 'We are ready': NASA still on track to launch Artemis 2 astronauts to the moon April 1." 

The launch window opens Wednesday, April 1 at 6:24 PM, staying open for two hours, and there are more launch windows until April 6th. NASA conducted a Flight Readiness Review back on March 20th before the rollback to the pad and no issues came up then - or have come up since then - that are threatening the schedule. 

 "Since that time, all of our operations have been going very smoothly," Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said during a mission status update on Sunday (March 29). "Our flight systems are ready, the ground systems are ready, our launch and operations teams are ready, and our flight operations team in Houston are also ready. The crew arrived yesterday, and I know that they're ready – they are more than ready."

"There are little things that we find as we go that we're working right there, but none of them are threatening the first right now," Glaze said.

At the moment, the only known risk is a 20% chance of the weather exceeding limits for cumulus clouds.  

NASA astronaut and Artemis 2 Mission Specialist Christina Koch introduces the crew’s zero-g indicator, ‘Rise’, which is hoisted in the air by NASA astronaut and Artemis 2 Commander Reid Wiseman. The other two crew members, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (left) and NASA astronaut and Pilot Victor Glover (right), will join Koch and Wiseman on the ten day mission around the Moon and back. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now

The idea of carrying a soft toy as a zero-g indicator is a recent goofy joke story - I don't really recall the first time I heard of one, but I can think of seeing the term used for a while. It's a zero-g indicator in the same way everything is. If you hold it out at arm's length, let go of it and it doesn't fall, just floating there, you're in zero-G microgravity, and if it falls you're not.