How to Operate NASA's Orion Spacecraft for Artemis II Mission

How to Operate NASA's Orion Spacecraft for Artemis II Mission
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2025

During NASA's Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight under the Artemis campaign, astronauts will manually operate the Orion spacecraft as part of their journey around the Moon and back. This mission is a critical test to validate the spacecraft's performance with a human crew onboard before future lunar landing missions.

The first major test of manual control, called the proximity operations demonstration, will occur about three hours into the mission. At this stage, the four crew members - NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen - will evaluate the spacecraft's handling by piloting it to approach and then back away from the upper stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will have detached earlier.

To execute these maneuvers, the astronauts will use two distinct controllers: rotational and translational hand controllers. These tools, along with three data display screens and a cursor control device, form the core of the manual control system onboard Orion.

"On Artemis II, most of the time the spacecraft will fly autonomously, but having humans aboard is a chance to help with future mission success," said Reid Wiseman. "If something goes wrong, a crewmember can jump on the controls and help fix the problem. One of our big goals is to check out this spacecraft and have it completely ready for our friends on Artemis III."

The rotational hand controller (RHC), located in the commander and pilot seats, is designed to control the spacecraft's attitude or orientation. Turning the RHC left or right adjusts the spacecraft's nose direction, while other movements allow for pitch and roll adjustments. The translational hand controller (THC), positioned near the display screens, controls linear motion. Pushing or pulling the THC moves the spacecraft forward, backward, up, down, or sideways.

These commands are processed by Orion's flight software, which is part of the guidance, navigation, and control system. Developed by Lockheed Martin, the software determines which of the spacecraft's 24 reaction control system thrusters to activate. These thrusters, located on the European-built service module, provide precise adjustments to the spacecraft's trajectory and orientation.

"We're going to perform flight test objectives on Artemis II to get data on the handling qualities of the spacecraft and how well it maneuvers," explained Jeffrey Semrau, Lockheed Martin's manual controls flight software lead for Artemis missions. "We'll use that information to upgrade and improve our control systems and facilitate success for future missions."

In addition to the controllers, the crew will use a cursor control device to interact with the data display screens, which present key spacecraft information. This design ensures accessibility even during high-G phases of launch or re-entry. Backup controls, including switches and dials on the spacecraft's switch interface panel, are also available to maintain operability in the event of display or controller malfunctions.

"This flight test will simulate the flying that we would do if we were docking to another spacecraft like our lander or to Gateway, our lunar space station," said Victor Glover. "We're going to make sure that the vehicle flies the way that our simulators approximate. And we're going to make sure that it's ready for the more complicated missions ahead."

The Artemis II mission will last approximately 10 days and will serve as a foundational test of NASA's human deep-space exploration capabilities. This includes evaluating the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and ground support systems to pave the way for future lunar surface missions.