The Apollo missions to the moon established many of the guidelines that we still use for space travel today, with some modern tweaks.
Orion is on its way home.The Artemis II crew is splashing down in the Pacific Ocean this evening, and they’ll have an easier time reacclimating to Earth than some of their lunar predecessors.Related video above: Artemis II crew travels farther from Earth than any human ever beforeThe Artemis program owes much of its inspiration to the success of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Apollo program, which set the goal of landing a man on the moon more than 50 years ago.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy outlined his goals for the space program in a speech before Congress. 'I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth,' Kennedy said. Though Project Apollo was initiated under the Eisenhower administration, it achieved liftoff under the Kennedy administration.The Apollo missions to the moon established many of the guidelines that we still use for space travel today, with some modern tweaks. The Apollo program took place from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed landing in 1969, with Apollo 11 — about eight years after Kennedy’s speech.During the Apollo missions, much less was known about the moon. Scientists were worried about any unknown pathogens, or 'moon germs,' that could have existed on the lunar surface.To account for that possible risk, the crews of Apollo 11, 12, and 14 underwent a 21-day post-mission isolation in NASA’s mobile quarantine facility, a pressurized, modified Airstream trailer. Apollo 13 did not utilize the facility since their landing was aborted early after an oxygen tank on the ship exploded. The MQF contained living and sleeping quarters, a bathroom, and even a kitchen.After splashdown and recovery, the astronauts were immediately ushered into the trailer, which itself was loaded into a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter aircraft. The aircraft flew the trailer back to NASA’s Houston headquarters, where they were monitored until isolation ended. Though they were in isolation, the astronauts took press events while inside, and even took a meeting with the president. The mobile quarantine facility was decommissioned after the Apollo 14 mission, once NASA decided that the moon was, in fact, sterile and posed no contamination risk to astronauts or Earth. Not only will the crew of Integrity — the crew's nickname for Orion — not have to undergo post-mission quarantine, but they will be holding a press conference shortly after recovery. Once back at NASA, they will also receive a medical work-up.However, the Artemis II crew did undergo a mandatory quarantine before their liftoff, which is standard for all space missions. The 14-day quarantine is referred to as the Health Stabilization Program, and was originally conceived amid the Apollo missions. The program is designed to keep astronauts from falling ill before their mission. The first mission to utilize the HSP was Apollo 14. In prior manned missions, 57% of Apollo crew members experienced some level of infectious illness before flight, according to NASA.Another way Artemis II’s re-entry may differ from the Apollo missions is that the Orion capsule was expected to break a re-entry speed record set by Apollo 10, which was 24,791 mph. Their record also holds as the fastest that any human has ever traveled. However, NASA has adjusted its estimates for Artemis II's re-entry, ranging between 23,000 and 25,000 mph. Their Day 9 estimate was 23,864 mph.
Artemis Artemis II MQF NASA Project Apollo US Astronauts Isolation Lunar Mission Moon Quarantine Re-Entry Space Mmnd Content Apollo Mission Moon Artemis Ii Nasa Astronaut Earth Re-Entry Crew Apollo Program Kennedy Airstream Trailer Goal Post-Mission Isolation Orion Year
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