Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Earth’s sun can toss out powerful solar storms that can impact Artemis II astronaut travel to and from the moon. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this solar flare event on October 3, 2024.
Image credit: NASA/SDO

The upcoming flight of Artemis II will hurl the astronaut crew outward to the moon, far beyond the shielding cocoon of Earth’s magnetic field. This first piloted sojourn of the Artemis program, a 10-day outing, is the first human passage over that distance since Apollo-era moonwalker flights ended in December 1972.

Forecasting skills

Tucked inside their Orion spacecraft, the Artemis II crew is seen in a pre-launch rehearsal.
Image credit: NASA/Mark Sowa

To support the flight, there has been a sharpening of space weather forecasting skills, an ability to better gauge the sun’s conniptions and to help assure crew safety if a hazardous uptick in solar action rears its energetic head.

“I think we’re feeling optimistically confident right now,” explains a space weather expert.

For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Could bad space weather endanger the Artemis 2 moon astronauts?” – at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/could-bad-space-weather-endanger-the-artemis-2-moon-astronauts