Thomil's Random Ramblings

So, Artemis 2 is finally on its way. At the time of writing, Integrity, Artemis 2’s command module, is coasting towards down towards Earth from 70,000 kilometres out, heading towards a swing by and gravity assist maneuvre around our homeworld before conducting it’s TLI, or trans-lunar injection, burn to get itself on a free return trajectory around the moon and back to Earth. TLI. Earth Swing-by. Free return trajectory. These terms haven’t really seen any use since the heady days of the Apollo missions. Well, not outside of games like Kerbal Space Program anyway.  I never thought I'd be able to watch a crewed lunar mission in my lifetime! I guess moon fever has got me good. And I’m not mad about it at all. I’ve always been a space nerd first and foremost. Names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and, later on, Alexei Lenovo and of course Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert and Ken Mattingly, the heroes of Apollo 13, were second nature to me before I could properly spell, long before...