For the rest of Artemis II's journey following its liftoff on Wednesday, the team at Mission Control in Houston will communicate with the astronauts, send commands and monitor the flight. Kris Van Cleave explains how it works.

Houston

Houston's mission control at the Johnson Space Center is responsible for communicating with the Artemis II astronauts, sending commands, and monitoring the flight after launch. The transition of command from Florida to Houston occurs seamlessly once the Artemis rocket leaves the launch pad.

The mission involves continuous system checks and problem-solving, as demonstrated by the crew's recent fix of a fault in the capsule's toilet. An upcoming engine burn, known as the translunar injection, will send the Orion capsule on its way to the moon, marking a critical phase in the mission.

How Mission Control will communicate with Artemis II

Back on Earth, Houston's mission control is in command. Here's a look at what's happening inside there. For the rest of this journey, this team will communicate with the astronauts, send commands, and monitor the flight. They are so on top of this. Chris Van Cleve is at the Johnson Space Center in Houston with more on how it all works. Chris, I can't get enough of this story. Good morning to you. Well, good morning. We're inside the training facility here at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and this is a full-size mock-up training model of the Orion capsule. Take a look inside. You can see how small it really is, about the size of two minivans for those four astronauts to live and work in. Now, we got the opportunity to go inside with NASA's Paul Boehm to get a sense for what it's like to live, work, eat, exercise, even sleep inside the Orion capsule. Also here in Houston is mission control. As soon as the Artemis rocket started moving and left the launch pad, command and control switched from Florida to here at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. That handoff was seamless. Once Orion reached space, the mission shifted to a series of carefully timed system checks to make sure everything is working right, and when it isn't, then they would try to fix it. That includes the toilet, which the crew said was giving a blinking fault light. They were able to fix that overnight, which is good because you can't call a plumber in space, of course. Now, soon, there's going to be another burn of Orion's engines, and that's going to lift the orbit, which sets up a really crucial phase of this mission for as soon as this evening. That's the translunar injection burn, and what that means, basically, is it's the burn that would send Orion on its way to the moon. Matt? Chris, can't get over how cramped that capsule is. Thank you.

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Breakdown