Artemis II: A Historic Leap in Space Exploration That Redefines...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Humanity has achieved a significant milestone as the historic Artemis II mission concluded successfully on Friday evening, marking a new frontier in space exploration.

At precisely 7:07 p.m. CT, the Artemis II crew module detached from its service module and made a safe landing in the Pacific Ocean. This moment was witnessed by millions who eagerly followed the 10-day journey into space and back.

University of Illinois alumnus Scott Altman, an accomplished astronaut, also serves as the president of ASRC Federal’s space division, which played a crucial role in constructing the Artemis spacecraft. He shared his insights with WCIA 3 on Friday, reflecting on the mental and physical experiences of those onboard.

“The key is practice, practice, practice,” Altman explained.

Repetitions Altman experienced first-hand. He was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 1995 and flew several space missions, including going higher than anyone since the Apollo missions in 2009. On Friday, he helped breakdown what was happening as Artemis II re-entered earth’s atmosphere.

“There’s going to be a six-minute communication blackout because the vehicle is coming through the plasma,” Altman said. “It’s going so fast and slowing down through the friction of the atmosphere that that plasma heats up and kind of shields the communication.”

Ken Jacobs grew up in Rantoul and went to the U of I. Now, he’s an engineer working on the Artemis program. He gave his thoughts right after the splashdown happened.

“The Orion capsule was going close to 25,000 mph,” Jacobs said. “So, we had to bleed off that energy. The heat shields did fantastic.”

A part of the capsule some had questions about. After getting through the heat — parachutes deployed — and Jacobs said it couldn’t have gone better.

“We are really ecstatic over what we’ve done and where we’re going,” he said.

Altman said now that they’re back on earth, these brave souls will need a big adjustment period.

“Your inner ear has been reprogrammed for zero g,” Altman said. “Now you’re walking around in gravity and you’re like, ‘whoa.’”

The story has captured the attention of millions across the world — Altman said for good reason.

“You look at the science fiction stuff and there’s always people in the show that are doing the exploration, and I think that resonates with everybody,” he said. “For exploration, you always want to go to the top of that hill and look over and see what’s out there.”

And Jacobs said the mastery they’ve shown with Artemis II is proof of concept for the future of space travel.

“We’re not going to go to the moon on Artemis 3, and Artemis 4, if everything works out well with Artemis 3, we will have boots on the moon. So, we’ll see how this progresses,” he said. “But this is a springboard for those activities.”

Both men said they are extremely grateful to have played a part in this mission and are excited to hopefully place humans on the moon for the first time since 1972.

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Artemis II: A Historic Leap in Space Exploration That Redefines Our Cosmic Future

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