Fly to the Moon with the Artemis Mission
Here’s how to watch the telemetry of the Orion spacecraft in near real-time all the way to the moon and back.
The Orion spacecraft is set to launch onboard the Artemis I mission on August 29th, 2022 at 8:33 a.m. (12:33 GMT) from Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This mission is designed to be an operational stress test for NASA’s super heavy launch vehicle, the Space Launch System, and their next generation deep space human transport system, Orion.
As a part of the Artemis I mission, Orion will take its first trip around the moon partaking in a ~42 day space journey. This journey will send the uncrewed capsule farther than any Apollo mission before it traveling over 40,000 miles (64,000 km) beyond the Moon. For this mission, NASA is rolling out a new mission tracking website allowing everyone with internet access to visualize the mission and see the Orion spacecraft telemetry in near real-time!
Here’s what you can expect from the Artemis Mission:
Track the Artemis Mission, Live!
Once the mission is launched on August 29, 2022, you’ll be able to follow the live status of the craft directly from its Command Module using NASA’s new Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW). AROW will provide detailed maps of the Orion spacecraft as it makes its way around the moon in a 3D Earth-Moon system. You’ll be able to view real, captured telemetry data from the Orion spacecraft including:
- Mission Time
- Velocity
- Position
- Distance from Earth
- Distance to the Moon
- Orbit trajectory
- Temperature
This telemetry will go live approximately 1 minute after liftoff providing periodic updates. Then, once Orion separates from its upper stage about 2 hours into the flight, the data will be streamed to AROW in near real-time for the remainder of the mission. Perhaps best of all if you are a data nerd like me, the data from AROW can be used to create your own tracking systems or other creative applications (Orion Ephemeris Data)!
NASA will launch AROW on Sunday, August 28th, the day before the launch, if all things continue to proceed smoothly. Stay tuned into NASA Orion’s Twitter feed to get the first look at the website once its live. So keep your eyes open and start following this mission live as it unfolds!
Here is the official NASA statement for AROW.
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