Thursday April 2, 2026 | EARTH’s ORBIT [4:25 pm PT]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends [VICTORIA, BC]
The first full day for the Artemis II crew on board the Orion spacecraft is the second day of the overall 10-day mission.
Day 2 activities began today after a long overnight sleep from the high-demand activities of Day 1 launch.
Last night there were a few technical things attended to before the crew eagerly signed off for sleep.
Four crew:
There are four Artemis II crew members on board: Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist), and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist).
Exercise on board:
Today there was first use of the exercise unit. Commander Reid Wiseman said he got a 30-minute workout — as vigorous as his same routine on earth, and that he could hear all radio communications while exercising. The other crew members did not need to wear earplugs, said Wiseman.
Exercise time for Pilot Glover was deferred (at Commander Wiseman’s request) so that Victor could attend to the water bag management.
Exercise is needed in an otherwise weightless environment as part of helping to protect bone density and muscle strength of the astronauts.
Camera software & speaker:
Technical adjustments continued today (in addition to Day 1 technology testing). Some camera software testing was done.
Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen tested both cameras that were having intermittent challenges including rebooting into 360-degree mode (the default seemed to be standard video mode). Houston replied that Hansen’s recommended upgrade to 360 would be “a working plan for now”.
Hansen meanwhile also recommended having the camera mounted so that it faces the working crew, and Houston complied. And he recommended that a portable speaker not needing to be set up yet, as they haven’t needed it.
Toilet:
The toilet was emptied by remote control from mission control in Houston.
The crew was asked to refrain from using the system until the emptying was completed.
Storage:
There was some back-and-forth between crew and mission control regarding storage of items (how-to and where).
It seems a bit surprising that a lot of that (today and yesterday) wasn’t pre-decided ahead of the mission.
Temperature:
Temperature recordings and water level reports were done.
The crew is preferring a cabin temperature of around 73 degrees Fahrenheit and Houston complied.
Burn plan update:
There was a burn plan uplink update in five different slots, launched into action in conversation between Mission Specialist Christina Koch and mission control.
Houston advised as to starting the upload and the crew confirmed ‘receipt’starting to populate’ and that completion will be advised — after which there will be a burn conference.
Hansen double-checked around 4:06 pm PT as to any changes to the final burn plan, and was advised about the five-part uplink that was still uploading.
Final burn plan uplink was confirmed as completed around 4:08 pm, and a few of the details reviewed by Houston to the crew. Version 4 was confirmed with Hansen and Houston around 4:10 pm.
Other communications:
There was a comm check on particular slots around 3:57 pm PT.
===== RELATED:
- Artemis II: troubleshooting some technical things (April 2, 2026)
- Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen heads to the moon (April 1, 2026)
- Artemis Mission Updates (NASA)
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