Artemis II hit by mid-flight communications scare

During NASA’s post-launch press conference, space agency chief Jared Isaacman revealed Artemis II suffered a communications issue, preventing NASA from hearing the crew’s messages for a brief time.

Isaacman added that the issue was not affecting the rest of the craft and NASA would be working to figure out what caused the temporary blackout.

‘About 51 minutes into the flight, during a planned handover between satellites, the Orion spacecraft underwent a communications issue, leading to a temporary partial loss,’ Isaacman said at a press conference.

‘The uplink from Cap Com [Capsule Communication] to the crew was being heard by the crew, but we can’t hear the responses for a brief period of time,’ he added, noting the issue has been resolved.

Isaacman said, ‘There were no issues with the vehicle itself. Comms with the crew have been restored. We’re actively working the issue.’

Artemis II successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four astronauts on a ten-day mission to reach the moon for the first time since 1972.

The NASA spacecraft officially launched at 6.35pm ET on Wednesday after overcoming a pair of systems glitches which temporarily threatened to derail the launch.

Artemis II is scheduled to take NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen farther into space than any human has ever gone before.

NASA has said the Artemis campaign is about laying the groundwork for future Mars missions, harnessing space’s economic benefits and creating an enduring human presence beyond Earth.

It’s also—as is anything these days in the United States—about heading off China’s own lunar land grab: Washington wants to remain in front of Beijing’s own plans to put a man on the moon by  2030.

But Artemis appears to be the opening step in a much more consequential infrastructure race that also pits Washington against Beijing—a giant leap toward an extraterrestrial AI future. And the program has attracted an unlikely new advocate.

French President Emmanuel Macron praised the Artemis II launch and highlighted the role Europeans played in the historic event.

‘There are moments when History catches its breath and shows Humanity the horizon of its greatness,’ he wrote on X.

‘With Artemis II, more than fifty years after Apollo 17, the Moon once again becomes that gathering place for peoples who pool their resources and dare to dream.

‘French, Europeans, we can be proud to take part in this extraordinary adventure by playing a key role thanks to the European service module developed by the ESA.’

He added, ‘Congratulations to the teams at NASA and ESA for this successful launch. We will be following the rest closely. In space too, our destiny is written through ambition, sovereignty, and unity.’

Eric Trump and his children watched the Artemis II launch in Florida.

‘So proud to see America heading back to the moon – this time riding Artemis II, the most powerful manned rocket ever launched,’ he wrote on X.

‘Congratulations to @rookisaacman and everyone at #NASA! Godspeed!’

Artemis III – NASA’s next space mission – is set to launch in 2027.

The mission in low Earth orbit will test integrated operations between the Orion spacecraft and one or both commercial landers from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin respectively.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said he will declare the Artemis II mission a success when the astronauts splash down safely.

‘To me, success is undershoots and in the in the water safely after a ten-day mission duration. So no early off-ramps there,’ he said.

Flight operations director Norm Knight said the early days of the Artemis II mission will work the crew ‘pretty hard.’

‘We’re working the crew pretty hard. In fact, when they go to sleep tonight, they’re woken up in the middle of their sleep to do the perigee raise burn,’ he said.

‘And so their sleep’s disrupted, they’re hitting on all cylinders, they may not be feeling well on top of that.’

Knight explained that the astronauts’ training included simulations to prepare them for what they would experience.

‘Now, they weren’t in orbit; they probably were feeling great. But we got a good gauge, “Hey, are we working them too hard?”‘

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman spoke of the stress he felt watching Artemis II launch from the control room.

‘It’s far less stressful to be strapped into the rocket than to be responsible for it here on Earth. I definitely had those feelings a little bit,’ he said.

He added that he felt confidence from the ‘army of people’ who worked tirelessly to ensure launch day went smoothly, including the astronauts who have prepared for two years.

Isaacman has been to space twice, first in 2021 and 2024. He was apart of the first all-civilian spacewalk on a SpaceX rocket mission.

NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya said the crews who work on the spacecraft have a lot to learn from the Artemis II launch.

‘We’ve got a lot in front of us,’ said Kshatriya. ‘It’s a big celebration in Launch Control for the rocket guys.’

He added, ‘The rocket guys can go out and play now, but the spacecraft guys have got a lot of homework.’