Artemis II is the second phase of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent base on the Moon to serve as a springboard for a future manned mission to Mars. Artemis II will consist of a test flight to the Moon with four astronauts on board, including Canadian Jeremy Hansen. During this mission for about ten days the crew of the capsule Orion it will travel around the moon and experiment with various technologies that will be used during future Artemis missions. Capsule Orion Artemis II is expected to fly in September 2025.
But what will everyday life be like for astronauts on the Artemis II mission? How will they support themselves? How do you stay in shape? And how will they be taken care of if they get sick? The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) described to the press on Monday how these essential activities of any mission in space will be carried out, with rescue crew members Jeremy Hansen and Jenni Gibbons present.
The astronauts’ diet during the mission will be very similar to what they are used to on Earth. It is a balanced diet, but we will add a vitamin D supplement to it because astronauts will not be exposed to the Sun, which allows our bodies on Earth to synthesize this vitamin.
The caloric intake of each menu will take into account the astronaut’s gender, his size and the type of activity he will perform during the day. Astronauts will have access to three meals and one snack per day, but “will not be required to eat all of these meals and in the usual order” because some may suffer from space sickness, which causes symptoms similar to the motion sickness that some people experience on Earth when traveling by boat or car. “Space sickness occurs when astronauts adapt to microgravity because their bodies no longer know where they are up and down, and their brains receive signals that are contrary to what they are used to,” explains Natalie Hirsch, project manager in operational space medicine. CSA.
For breakfast, they will be able to choose between granola, cereal, eggs and sausages packaged individually per portion in small metal bags. The next two meals of the day will consist of five pockets containing a soup, a vegetable dish, rice with prawns flavored with something like curry, a meat dish and a dessert.
Most of these foods are dehydrated and will need to be rehydrated with water drawn from supplies brought from Earth. Some foods, such as the delicious wood-smoked wild salmon (which the journalists were able to taste), undergo a heat treatment similar to that used for canned goods.
Since Artemis II is a short 10-day mission, the astronauts were asked to taste different foods and rank them in order of preference, allowing the team to build a menu they thought they would like. And since the crew will be Canadian, we’ve included some quintessentially Canadian foods, including maple syrup and the iconic maple cookies.
In a capsule Orion, the astronauts will have access to a supply of water. However, it will be at room temperature and cannot be cooled or heated. “We don’t even know what the ambient temperature will be because the Artemis I mission was unmanned and there was no one to tell us when we got back. We will find out during our mission,” Mr Hansen said.
Physical training
“We learned from astronauts who spent six months on the International Space Station that microgravity causes bone loss, particularly in the hips and pelvis. When we are on Earth, we are constantly fighting gravity; our hips and pelvis do a lot of work to support us as we walk. Whereas when we are in space, they don’t have to do this job anymore. On the other hand, the wrist bones in particular are much less affected because astronauts use their upper body to move around the station. They swim and have to pull with their arms to move,” explains Mme Hirsch.
To prevent this loss of bone mass, the training program planned for the astronauts aims to “stimulate the lower body as much as possible, because it is the part that is most affected,” he elaborates. This program mainly includes leg bends performed while maintaining a straight torso (squats), as well as deadlifts (deadlifts), which consist of lifting and then placing a weight on the ground. These two movements mainly stress the lower body, especially the hips and pelvis. Artemis II astronauts will perform this training for approximately thirty minutes a day.
Since the capsule was cramped, it was necessary to design a training platform that was small, light and did not require electrical power, which we called a flywheel. However, during their short training period, the astronauts will wear a monitor that will record their heart rate and physical performance in terms of speed and force exerted while using the device.
Health care
Of course, “we make sure that the astronauts who go into space are in good health. And we focus primarily on prevention,” emphasized Annie Martin, portfolio manager of the ASC New Horizons in Health initiative.
The space agency will use new telemedicine technologies to diagnose and treat health problems astronauts may experience in space. “Our doctors will be on the ground communicating with the astronauts in space regularly to make sure they’re OK,” she said.
ASC collaborated with five organizations to develop prototypes of connected medical care systems. “On the Moon and later on Mars, we will need an integrated system, that is, the patient will be connected to various measuring devices (e.g. appear on a screen and can be sent to medical professionals who are on Earth,” said Mme Martin.
Crew members receive minimal medical training, but a decision support system that uses artificial intelligence to analyze data will initially guide them, he explains. “If an astronaut suddenly complains of chest pain, we report that symptom to our decision support system. This system, with knowledge of best medical practices, will ask questions about the patient, questions that the doctor would ask if he were by his side. The system will then arrive at a diagnosis that will allow other crew members, who are not necessarily medical professionals, to manage the medical problem on the spot so the mission can continue. The system will provide guidance on what could be done while you wait for access to additional expertise. »
If an astronaut’s condition is critical and requires special care that cannot be provided in space, he can be returned to Earth within a day, Gibbons said.
The use of these telemedicine technologies could also benefit remote communities, such as those in the north of the country, but also populations cut off from the world due to natural disasters, noted M.me Martin.
A previous version of this text which indicated that the capsule Orion Artemis II, scheduled to lift off in September 2026, has been modified. The launch is planned for September 2025.