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If everything is a "go" tomorrow, NASA will launch the Artemis 1 mission, nearly 50 years since the last manned mission to the Moon in December 1972. This is an unmanned mission, and will do a flyby of the moon. The Artemis II mission will send 4 astronauts on a lunar flyby, and Artemis III will send 3 or 4 astronauts to the Moon's surface, with 2 doing up to 4 moonwalks.
The Artemis program is of special interest to me, not merely because of the scientific importance, but because my dad has spent the last several years working on the windows for the Orion spacecrafts. The windows (shielded during launch and reentry) are a 3 part laminate; glass sandwiched between layers of protective acrylic. Plus a myriad of protective coatings.
My dad is a master optician, having spent many years as an amateur telescope mirror grinder. He was employed for several years at the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona (not to be confused with the Steward Mirror Lab). In his time there he worked on projects for NASA, JPL, Ball Aerospace, as well as subcontracted optical elements for major defense contractors like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, etc. In 2004 he was awarded an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for having made the world's largest optical lens.
The company that he works for now is Rayotek, which specializes in sight windows (ranging from tiny ones for gas water heaters to massive ones for oil pipelines). They were chosen by NASA to work on the glass component for the Orion windows. He's also working on the glass for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, a spacecraft intended to shuttle astronauts to the ISS and back.
You can watch the Artemis I launch here: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
The Artemis program is of special interest to me, not merely because of the scientific importance, but because my dad has spent the last several years working on the windows for the Orion spacecrafts. The windows (shielded during launch and reentry) are a 3 part laminate; glass sandwiched between layers of protective acrylic. Plus a myriad of protective coatings.
My dad is a master optician, having spent many years as an amateur telescope mirror grinder. He was employed for several years at the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona (not to be confused with the Steward Mirror Lab). In his time there he worked on projects for NASA, JPL, Ball Aerospace, as well as subcontracted optical elements for major defense contractors like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, etc. In 2004 he was awarded an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for having made the world's largest optical lens.
The company that he works for now is Rayotek, which specializes in sight windows (ranging from tiny ones for gas water heaters to massive ones for oil pipelines). They were chosen by NASA to work on the glass component for the Orion windows. He's also working on the glass for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner, a spacecraft intended to shuttle astronauts to the ISS and back.
You can watch the Artemis I launch here: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
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