Wednesday April 1, 2026 | EARTH’s ORBIT [10:30 pm PT | Updated 10:38 & 11:07 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends [VICTORIA, BC]
A few technical glitches on the Artemis II mission on the Orion spacecraft are being dealt with as things move along on Day One of the mission.
There are four crew members on board: Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist), and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist).
Toilet:
“The Artemis II crew, working closely with mission control in Houston, were able to restore the Orion spacecraft’s toilet to normal operations following the proximity operations demonstration,” it was posted on the NASA website at 12:06 am ET.
“Ahead of the apogee raise burn on April 1, the Artemis II crew reported a blinking fault light and mission control teams successfully assessed the data and worked with the crew to troubleshoot and resolve the issue,” says NASA in an article posted a short while ago.
Battery sensor:
There was a small technical glitch before launch … a sensor was delivering faulty readings about one of two batteries outside the launch capsule.
Cabin temperature:
As well, around 9:55 pm PT, it could be heard on the live NASA feed that one of the crew was asking mission control in Houston if the temperature could be increased within the spacecraft.
Around 1:11 am ET, Houston said they would remotely slow down the fan speed in the cabin.
Other technical things:
Around 1:15 am ET April 2 a crew member (Koch) was heard asking mission control if a package could be opened and some wires attended to.
And around 1:35 am ET “a bit of a networking issue” was reported by a crew member (Hansen). Some wording included “Internet error”; wi-fi and shutdown reboot had been tried on board.
There was also a question from the spacecraft crew to mission control about the location of some stored items (sounds like ‘comfort garments’ for two of the crew members); within a few minutes Houston advised the recorded location of the garments.
There was a request to deactivate some wastewater lines, around 1:42 am ET.
Some software needed checking; part of that was “two Microsoft Outlooks” not working.
Taking a nap:
“The crew now will take a four-hour nap and be awakened at 7 a.m. EDT on Thursday, April 2, to prepare for the perigee raise burn,” it was posted by NASA earlier this evening.
“This burn will lift the lowest point of Orion’s orbit around Earth. Together with the apogee raise burn completed earlier, these burns shape the spacecraft’s initial orbit and prepare it for later translunar operations. The crew members then will resume their sleep period around 9:40 a.m.”
Live feed:
As bandwidth allows, the NASA live feed presented on their YouTube channel will feature live views from Artemis II’s Orion spacecraft, without commentary, as it makes its journey around the Moon.
The stream began as Artemis II began its ascent into space and will conclude shortly before Orion splashes down into the Pacific Ocean around nine days from now.
Viewers will see a blue screen if there is a loss of signal, or if the bandwidth is needed for mission activities.
Viewers may see what appears to be a black screen when the vehicle is in darkness.
The 24/7 streaming coverage of Artemis II operations and mission updates is available on the NASA YouTube channel. About 11,000 viewers were tuned in as of 11:05 pm PT April 1.
They are also streaming Artemis II events on NASA+, Amazon, X, Facebook, and Twitch. See the full schedule.
===== RELATED:
- Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen heads to the moon (April 1, 2026)
- Artemis Mission Updates (NASA)