Artemis II Launch Day Updates • Hacker News Board

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#331

Post by pc86 » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

encrypted_bird wrote: post #197

pc86 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about don't tell other people what they can and can't talk about, and just ignore side threads you don't care about? There are about 500 different HN browser extensions that let you collapse threads, btw.

Not parent, but I am genuinely curious: is there a Hacker News browser extension you'd recommend? The text is so small by default that even though I'd like to read on my desktop, I typically only browse it via the Hacki android app.

I vibe-coded one using one of the web-based tools (I think Replit?) maybe a year and a half ago. Just added vote tracking by username, tagging, colored usernames, that sort of thing. Only took a on average 1-2 prompts per feature, I did it in under an hour start to finish.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#332

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #251

wvbdmp wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope so, but if this goes awry in any way, especially if – god forbid – they lose the crew, my fear is it’ll be a blow to the American hegemony that will be very hard to recover from. Orange man is bad, but I think something like that would add a whole other dimension to the US’s loss of face. I’m as anti-american as they come, but despite everything Pax Americana must be acknowledged and I shudder at the thought o…

> if – god forbid – they lose the crew, my fear is it’ll be a blow to the American hegemony that will be very hard to recover from This has zero impact on American hegemony. That mission is being prosecuted in Iran and with respect to NATO.

[deleted]

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#333

Post by pengaru » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

0xffff2 wrote: post #282

I do hope the doomers who think that the entire US government has been completely gutted will take note of this. The government workforce is in a bad spot for sure, SLS is far from a perfect program, but this still demonstrates that we are doing some real work still.

April 1; I see what you did there, well played.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#334

Post by drivers99 » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

birdsongs wrote: post #316

IshKebab wrote: post #299

[flagged]

I don't know why you're getting downvoted. The camera work was atrocious. It's not just frilly video, it's how the world sees it, emotionally connects to it, and grows up loving it, and wanting to support more. We had black screens as it left the pad, they didn't know what camera to switch to and kept changing feeds every 2-3 seconds, they switched to a grainy feed of the crowd just looking up while booster separatio…

They had the longest reaction shot of some people filming it with their phones (maybe they got a good shot) and when they switched back to after the booster separation I said at the time, “that would have been cool to see.”

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#335

Post by thombat » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

spike021 wrote: post #308

IshKebab wrote: post #299

[flagged]

It's hard enough to train a camera on race cars speeding by at 250+ kilometers an hour.

But it isn't speeding by, it's heading away following a closely predetermined trajectory. A better analogy would be filming a high-altitude aircraft flying away from you, using a gear-driven tripod mount.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#336

Post by justinator » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

0xffff2 wrote: post #282

I do hope the doomers who think that the entire US government has been completely gutted will take note of this. The government workforce is in a bad spot for sure, SLS is far from a perfect program, but this still demonstrates that we are doing some real work still.

We'd look better if there was still a USAID.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#337

Post by smsm42 » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

CoastalCoder wrote: post #6

LorenDB wrote: post #5

It's been 54 years since humans last visited the Moon. Hopefully, in a few years we will get boots back on the surface.

Out of curiosity, why do you see this as a worthwhile endeavor? My personal perspective is that the resources are better used for other purposes, but it's possible that I just haven't encountered some compelling reason yet.

Because one day, far far in the future, the humanity would reach out to the stars, and these are the first tiny steps to enable this. There's always the question of directing the resources, and this program is not that expensive, really - around $100bn. Given that fraud at COVID time alone is estimated to have cost the Treasury twice as much, seems like a worthy investment into the future.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#338

Post by intrasight » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #311

intrasight wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I watched Apollo 11 launch in 1969 when I was four. Watched on our neighbor's TV. We didn't have one. Imagine what we could accomplish if we didn't suck.

sending people to the moon was never useful. We can get more done with robots, both cheaper and safer. There are plenty of more useful things we can do instead. okay what is more useful is a matter of opinion. you can disagree, but I stand by it

It may not be useful but we'll do it anyway. And then it may come to have utility.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#339

Post by rcv » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

Does anyone know of a good status tracker for the mission? I'm watching the official feed on Youtube and it's great for commentary but I'd love a live Kerbal-style UI I could poke around.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#340

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Apr 01, 2026, 11:15 PM UTC

jamiek88 wrote: post #318

0xffff2 wrote: post #282

I do hope the doomers who think that the entire US government has been completely gutted will take note of this. The government workforce is in a bad spot for sure, SLS is far from a perfect program, but this still demonstrates that we are doing some real work still.

It’s Orion that’s dodgy as fuck not the booster. I.e the new thing. Not the decades old, proven, launch engines. Let’s wait for the back patting when they splash down. I genuinely hope not but i am worried about this craft.

> Orion that’s dodgy as fuck not the booster. I.e the new thing

I mean, newly shaped and partly reformulated.

Avcoat was “originally created…for the Apollo program” [1]. (“A reformulated version was used for the initial Orion heat shield and later for a redesigned Orion heat shield.”) The new things are Orion’s size and weight and the size of the tiles. All of which has precedented flight in Artemis I.

At the end of the day, I’m going to trust the astronauts. This issue was openly discussed, despite NASA’s original—and fair to criticize—instinct to cover it up. While any manned reëntry is a nail biter, I don’t think this one is especially so.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCOAT