Former NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, who flew on two space missions, described what the Artemis II crew will experience and test once in orbit.
After launch the crew will settle into an elliptical, roughly 24‑hour orbit. That gives them time to adapt to microgravity (three of the four crew have flown before; for Canada’s Jeremy Hansen it’s his first taste of weightlessness), eat, rest, and—critically—run through an intensive series of systems checks. Because Artemis II is a test flight, Anderson said the crew will “wring out” everything they can: life support (oxygen flow, carbon‑dioxide removal), the toilet, food‑prep and heating systems, trash handling, and the exercise device designed for the mission. They’ll verify hardware and procedures so engineers can fix issues before Artemis III and later missions, increasing confidence for future lunar operations.
A key milestone will be the trans‑lunar injection burn. If that burn succeeds the spacecraft will be on a free‑return trajectory: the vehicle will go behind the Moon, trace a figure‑eight around it, and return to Earth unless something requires a different plan. Anderson emphasized that, once that burn is made and successful, they will in fact go to the Moon’s vicinity.
Anderson also noted the personal side: how the astronauts feel after launch. After a long, intense day they’ll be getting used to zero‑G, trying to eat and rest, but “it’s really hard to go to sleep after such an invigorating day.” He recalled the adrenaline and the rumble—“it shakes a lot”—and said he felt envy and prayed for the crew’s safety during the countdown.
On the mission’s historic aspects, Anderson welcomed the milestones—Artemis II flies farther than Apollo, and the crew includes the first Black astronaut and the first female astronaut to be on a lunar mission. He stressed that while diversity and inclusion are important, the biggest message for young people is inspiration: “kids should just look and say, hey, I can do this,” regardless of background. Anderson described Artemis II as “building for the future” and said the crew sees itself as starting the ball rolling and carrying the torch for future explorers.
Overall, Anderson framed Artemis II as a demanding, dangerous test flight that must succeed technically and serve as a learning step for returning humans to the Moon and enabling sustained operations on future Artemis missions.