Forum menu

Artemis

Posts: 24854
Free Member
Topic starter
 
[#13534989]

Looks like it's happening....

Not a huge fan of USA! USA! right now, but as a scientist I'm fully bought in


 
Posted : 01/04/2026 11:33 pm
pondo, nuke, retrorick and 2 people reacted
 Drac
Posts: 50603
 

And it’s away great to see the launch live. 


 
Posted : 01/04/2026 11:48 pm
Posts: 4381
Full Member
 

I’d missed that this was happening now until my mate messaged.

Just rewound Sky to the launch 😎


 
Posted : 01/04/2026 11:51 pm
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

Very smooth countdown and launch. I'm remembering 15 year old me watching Apollo 8.


 
Posted : 01/04/2026 11:51 pm
Posts: 2094
Full Member
 

I watched it. Seemed reasonably smooth. I wonder if it'll be visible from the UK over the coming nights?


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:04 am
Posts: 14290
Free Member
 

Yawn! 🥱
No boost back, no amazing on board cameras, no landing.
I'm not entirely sure why the BBC are giving it so much coverage really. 😬

At least nothing went 💥


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:09 am
Posts: 7037
Full Member
 

Stayed up to watch this. Awesome. I actually remember my dad getting me up to watch the moon landing. This looked the same.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:22 am
Posts: 6940
Full Member
 

I watched NASA TV on YouTube. Launch coverage was meh considering how much experience has been gained in videoing rocket launches in the last decade. 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:24 am
Posts: 16526
Full Member
 

I didn't watch it live but I'll be all in to watch the moon landing launch. 

The world a bit fudged and I see this as a bit of optimism for the future personally.

Anyway, it's to do with science and space so I'm always going to be suckered in. 😁

 

Can't sleep so might bung on Interstellar!


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:34 am
blokeuptheroad and pondo reacted
Posts: 66111
Full Member
 

Yeah awesome launch but the actual "launch show" was piss poor. I don't mind that much, I'm there for the big firework not the presentation but it should be better


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:35 am
Poopscoop reacted
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

I'm not sure if I've got this right but it seems from the communication so far they are having difficulty getting the bog to flush.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 1:16 am
Posts: 16526
Full Member
 

Posted by: slowoldman

I'm not sure if I've got this right but it seems from the communication so far they are having difficulty getting the bog to flush.

 

Few bits and bobs not working but nothing too serious apparently.

Mind you, 4 people in a camper van, in space, without a working bog might get pretty old fast. 

'Houston, we need a bogbrush.'

 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 1:20 am
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

'Houston, we need a bogbrush.'

Username checks out.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 1:26 am
nickc reacted
Posts: 16526
Full Member
 

Username checks out.

 

Id me willing to help out but the cost of fuel to get to to them at the moment is a pig.😁


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 2:00 am
anorak reacted
Posts: 2883
Full Member
 

Can't believe how many people I have spoken to DO NOT know that this is happening!!!


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 2:16 am
Posts: 16526
Full Member
 
seadog101
 
Can't believe how many people I have spoken to DO NOT know that this is happening!!!
 
That's true you know. 
I think it's partly due to a lot going on in the world at the moment but mostly due to how fractured people are in how (or even if) they consume news these days. 
 
By tomorrow it'll be claimed as being an AI hoax launch anyway. 
 
Its an odd world.

 
Posted : 02/04/2026 2:46 am
pondo reacted
Posts: 3228
Full Member
 

It's the first launch that I've ever actually sat down and watched. I was gobsmacked by the status updates and how fast that thing accelerated and accelerated and then accelerated some more. Here's to a successful mission and return to earth.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 7:44 am
Posts: 33187
Full Member
 

Posted by: Poopscoop

By tomorrow it'll be claimed as being an AI hoax launch anyway. 
 
Its an odd world.

My Reform inclined brother in law has clearly spent his recent retirement going down rabbit holes, as he announced on FB last night that the moon landings must gave been fake or there wouldn't be all this hype about going there after a further 50 years of technological development.

The only conspiracy theory I have is that the launch distracted from Trump getting a hard time in the Supreme Court. I'm just grateful it was successful.

 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 7:50 am
 rone
Posts: 9787
Free Member
 

Camera forgot to tilt on the main shot!

Shame that.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 8:03 am
Posts: 5801
Free Member
 

Impressive so far and I'm excited. 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 8:22 am
Posts: 9387
Full Member
 

Posted by: scuttler

I watched NASA TV on YouTube. Launch coverage was meh considering how much experience has been gained in videoing rocket launches in the last decade.

The NASA multimedia was like a public service version of Space X. They still had lots of cameras but they were laggy and a bit rubbish. We are used to drone shots, multiple camera angles, on board live feeds, real time graphics. NASA tried and came up a bit short. Which is a real shame. The feed I was watching didn't even show the rocket leaving the launch pad. It also seems to take off at T - 4 seconds. 

But then should be be surprised, I was looking on Flight Radar and NASA were flying a Canberra for relays. Its a 63 year old aircraft!

 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 8:24 am
Posts: 1335
Full Member
 

Impressive stuff though we are spoiled by the coverage from SpaceX and their launches with fancy graphics and engine/fuel status etc. Hopefully a nice uneventful 10 days reaching the moon and coming back now.

I was waiting for the boosters to come in and land once they'd separated and remembered it wasn't that kind of launch. I still remember watching the Falcon Heavy's first launch (or the first where they got the boosters back) and being struck by the synchronised landing.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 8:38 am
Posts: 5729
Full Member
 

The footage of the launch from a plane is mind blowing.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 8:50 am
Posts: 9618
Full Member
 

I wasn't overly impressed with the footage seeing what we've had from Space X etc. My mind blowing moments, previously, was when the rockets 'landed' on their own, proper 'Flash Gordon' moment. Maybe we'll get some edited coverage.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 9:05 am
Posts: 3928
Full Member
 

Posted by: euain

Impressive stuff though we are spoiled by the coverage from SpaceX and their launches with fancy graphics and engine/fuel status etc. Hopefully a nice uneventful 10 days reaching the moon and coming back now.

I was waiting for the boosters to come in and land once they'd separated and remembered it wasn't that kind of launch. I still remember watching the Falcon Heavy's first launch (or the first where they got the boosters back) and being struck by the synchronised landing.

 

IIRC from the broadcast aren't the booster the same as they used on the Shuttle?

 

With all the advancement that Space-X has made I can't believe that NASA basically came up with a Saturn V with some left over shuttle boosters strapped to it..... 

Not a massive advancement for 50 years....


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 9:33 am
Posts: 3928
Full Member
 

Posted by: slowoldman

I'm not sure if I've got this right but it seems from the communication so far they are having difficulty getting the bog to flush.

The Wolowitz Zero-Gravity Human Waste Disposal Distribution System....

 

 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 10:27 am
Posts: 898
Free Member
 

Er, not that exciting really, so an understand people not being bothered. Going to look at the Moon? Moon landing will be better, but what is it all for? 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 10:43 am
 IHN
Posts: 20128
Full Member
 

Posted by: seadog101

Can't believe how many people I have spoken to DO NOT know that this is happening!!!

Maybe they have more important things to be thinking about or concerning themselves with. 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 10:51 am
Posts: 3228
Full Member
 

 It also seems to take off at T - 4 seconds. 

Commentary in the lead up to launch said that the rocket is effectively on autopilot for launch. It reaches a certain point in the sequence and the rocket takes over with no connection too the actual countdown. Mission control took control over the rocket once it was a minute or two into its flight.

 

Moon landing will be better, but what is it all for? 

Control of resources, at a guess. 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 10:54 am
Posts: 9139
Full Member
 

And an easier launchpad (sorry) for the rest of the Solar System. Earth is a difficult place to leave, the moon is easier, so if you can form a more permanent place there to launch from (with the ability to create/store/etc fuel and components) it is a win for humanity.

 

But the cynical part of me says it is control of resources.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 11:13 am
 IHN
Posts: 20128
Full Member
 

Posted by: willard

it is a win for humanity

A win how?

Posted by: willard

But the cynical part of me says it is control of resources.

Bingo!


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 11:16 am
Posts: 14290
Free Member
 

Posted by: euain

we are spoiled by the coverage from SpaceX and their launches with fancy graphics and engine/fuel status etc.

This..... there isn't really any excuse not to do something better than they did

 

Posted by: PrinceJohn

The footage of the launch from a plane is mind blowing.

 

Not seen the SpaceX drone footage then?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/o8IJVCacYDc


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:03 pm
Posts: 2061
Full Member
 

With all the advancement that Space-X has made I can't believe that NASA basically came up with a Saturn V with some left over shuttle boosters strapped to it..... 

blame US pork barrel politics for that. It’s not about what should be built, it’s about what can be funded. And not cancelled by tge next administration 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:05 pm
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

The plumber has been and the crew can now go.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 12:35 pm
Posts: 3228
Full Member
 

I enjoyed the simplicity of the coverage (i watched on the Beeb). The very fact that they were doing it was impressive enough. 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 1:32 pm
Posts: 35040
Full Member
 

Posted by: euain

we are spoiled by the coverage from SpaceX and their launches with fancy graphics and engine/fuel status etc.

Or were blinded by the "look over here, don't look at the hands" graphics to miss the fact that space X just puts things in low orbit and can't in fact do anything as complex as Artemis? 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 1:56 pm
CountZero reacted
Posts: 1247
Free Member
 

Posted by: nickc

can't in fact do anything as complex as Artemis? 

dont the landings count as complex?


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 3:28 pm
Posts: 66111
Full Member
 

Posted by: dirkpitt74

IIRC from the broadcast aren't the booster the same as they used on the Shuttle?

Not identical but very similiar- they reuse past-used shuttle booster casings but are bigger and have a bunch of new tech. And the main engines are reused shuttle RS25s. Ironically all this development and they've basically invented a soviet Energia 🙂

Whole thing is a procurement disaster, but that's NASA, every project has to appeal to the right congressmen, put investment in the right companies etc. They're not really building a moon mission, they have to build a special interests fellating machine and then hope a rocket comes out at the end.

On the other hand they've also backed Starship for this and Starship continues to not exist and is now the biggest risk for the entire Artemis project, since they need both SLS and Starship for the landings. So they're simultaneously both dependent on future tech but also spending a fortune on old stuff and if both don't work nothing works.

 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 5:02 pm
CountZero reacted
Posts: 3228
Full Member
 

So they're simultaneously both dependent on future tech but also spending a fortune on old stuff and if both don't work nothing works.

Was it John Glenn who spoke about a machine made of thousands of components all supplied by the lowest bidder? Big govt projects are all the same, be it installing a pedestrian crossing or firing people hundreds of thousands of miles across space.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 7:14 pm
Posts: 5349
Full Member
 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 7:18 pm
kelvin reacted
Posts: 18029
Full Member
 

Coming up in the next couple of hours is the TLI.


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 10:53 pm
Posts: 14290
Free Member
 

Posted by: nickc
space X just puts things in low orbit and can't in fact do anything as complex as Artemis? 

So far Artemis has only taken off, everything is disposable, it cannot land anything and costs $4 billion per launch.
A Falcon Heavy can deliver crew to the ISS, returns most of the rocket to earth for reuse multiple times and costs about $120 million per launch. That's about 3% of the cost of a single Artemis launch!
In what sense is Artemis "better"?


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 10:54 pm
Posts: 33970
Full Member
 

Posted by: slowoldman

I'm not sure if I've got this right but it seems from the communication so far they are having difficulty getting the bog to flush.

Could be worse, it could be an aircraft carrier with a 1000+ crew and the toilet systems aren’t working, so someone sets fire to the laundry… 💩

I missed the first lunar landing in ‘69, I was on holiday and the only TV was in the bar of the caravan site, and I was too young to go in and watch it! 😖


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 11:31 pm
Posts: 1733
Full Member
 

Listening to 13minutes to the moon podcast. One of the presenters parents both flew on the shuttles. One of the engines on one of her parents shuttle was reused on Artemis 1. 

I thought they were the same boosters but remapped up to 109% but then lost the ability to recover them. 

Just read that the $30mn toilet is working. Seems better than Apollo when they had to tape a bag to their bum (bbc article) 


 
Posted : 02/04/2026 11:37 pm
Posts: 11643
Full Member
 

I suppose it’s impressive but nothing that wasn’t accomplished 50 years ago, I guess we will now enter a big dick swinging contest between countries (and the tech bros) that will offer very little benefit to us.

 

 


 
Posted : 03/04/2026 1:31 am
Page 1 / 2