Artemis II Flight Path

“A fascinating piece of orbital mechanics: the figure-eight path that brings our astronauts home safely.”

Watch the Build in Action

Renders

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Description

Artemis II Flight Path: Mapping the Journey to the Moon and Back.

I was watching the launch live and immediately got the idea to build this. For those who might not know, the “free-return trajectory” is a fascinating piece of orbital mechanics. It is a figure-eight path shaped by the gravity of both the Earth and the Moon, which allows the Orion spacecraft to loop around the far side of the Moon and naturally slingshot back to Earth. The best part is that this trajectory doesn’t require any major engine burns or propulsion maneuvers to safely bring the astronauts home!

This diorama is a physical representation of that historic mission. I wanted to capture the elegance of the math and the physics that make space exploration possible. It’s a tribute to the Artemis II mission and the engineers who map these paths through the stars.

Reimagining the Flight Path

My initial plan was to use Spider-Man webs (part 14210) to map the trajectory, but since I use LDraw for my designs, I hit a technical hurdle: I didn’t know how to “bend” flexible parts in the software. To avoid using flexible hoses or tubing, I pivoted and built the figure-eight flight path using a series of rigid bar pieces in varying lengths, angled and connected together using clip tiles.

• Orbital Mechanics in Bricks: Capturing the figure-eight “slingshot” path without flexible parts.
• Diorama Elements: Reusing Earth and Moon models from my previous MOCs (Death Star and Death Star VS Alderaan) to complete the scene.

I hope you enjoy this brick-built representation of space exploration history! It was a blast to translate such a complex trajectory into a rigid LEGO structure.

Build Bright!

Build Details

• Model designed by: Eduardo Sousa
• Total parts: 450
• Colors: Classic space palette of blue and grey, with a white flight path trajectory.
• Created using: LPub3D; LeoCAD; Studio; Shotcut; Gimp; git; vscode