Artemis II
The Mission
On April 1, 2026, NASA launched Artemis II —
the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist
Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen are the crew of
Integrity, riding the Orion spacecraft
on a 10-day free-return trajectory around the Moon.
This is humanity's first step back toward deep space — a flight
test that will carry astronauts farther from Earth than any human has
traveled since the Apollo era, surpassing the Apollo 13 distance record
at 252,757 miles from Earth.
This Simulator
This is a real-time orbital trajectory simulator that tracks Orion's
position, velocity, and relativistic time dilation throughout the
Artemis II mission. The trajectory is computed from first principles
using physics, not pre-recorded animation.
In live mode, the simulation syncs to the real
elapsed mission time — what you see is where Orion is right now
(within the model's accuracy). Hit Play to simulate forward or rewind.
How the Model Works
The trajectory is integrated using a 4th-order Runge-Kutta
(RK4) numerical integrator under three-body gravity:
Earth + Moon + Sun (solar tidal perturbation).
Burns are modeled as impulsive Δv maneuvers. The powered
ascent phase is interpolated from real SLS performance data.
Trajectory
RK4 integration with 10-second timestep.
ICPS HEO burn targets a 23.5-hour orbit (76,757 km apogee). TLI detected
dynamically at perigee return. Post-flyby TCM calibrated for correct
splashdown timing.
Time Dilation
Proper time computed along Orion's worldline
in the weak-field limit of general relativity. Two competing effects:
gravitational blueshift (Orion ages faster far from Earth)
vs. velocity dilation (moving clocks run slower). Gravity
wins — the crew ages slightly more than people on Earth.
Accuracy
All parameters were calibrated against NASA mission control
data including confirmed launch time, TLI burn time, and
projected perilune/splashdown times.
What’s accurate
Lunar flyby timing within 3 minutes
of NASA's published time. Splashdown within 10 minutes.
Launch time exact. Three-body gravity captures solar tidal effects
that two-body models miss.
Known limitations
2D orbital plane (no out-of-plane maneuvers).
Circular Moon orbit (real orbit is elliptical). Impulsive burns (real TLI
is a 5m50s finite burn). Flyby altitude is ~2× NASA's value due to
start-angle calibration trade-off. No J2 Earth oblateness.
Fidelity indicators (colored dots in the mission log) show model
confidence for each event. Solid dots = confirmed by NASA.
Outlined dots = projected. Hover for details.
Worldline Metric
The proper time along Orion's worldline in the weak-field limit:
Mission Status
Artemis II completed successfully on April 11, 2026. The Orion
spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, returning all four
crew members safely after humanity's first crewed lunar flyby in
over 50 years. This simulator preserves the real-time trajectory
model used during the mission.
Archive
View original version — the pre-Cinematic Tier UI preserved for reference.