NASA has taken a major step towards its next moonshot.
NASA placed its Orion crew capsule on top of its Space Launch System megarocket at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, Wednesday Oct 20. This was a significant milestone for NASA and its Artemis program.
The Orion-SLS pair will fly Artemis 1's first mission, an uncrewed orbit around the moon. It is expected to launch in the early part of next year.
Photos: NASA's Orion space capsule.
On Oct. 20, 2021, NASA's Artemis 1 crew capsule Orion is placed atop its Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center. (Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
Artemis 1 will also loft 10 tagalong Cubesats (or small satellites), which will carry out a variety tasks once they deploy from Orion. BioSentinel, for example, will study the effects deep-space radiation has on yeast DNA. Near-Earth Asteroid Boy Scout will fly by a spacerock, which it will reach via a solar sail.
Artemis 2, a crewed flight to lunar orbit, will take off in 2023. Artemis 3 will be the next crewed trip to the lunar orbit. It will be the first time that astronauts have been on the moon since 1972. NASA officials claim that at least one Artemis 3 moonwalker will be a woman. They are the first ever to set foot on the lunar surface.
The then-President Donald Trump ordered NASA to make the first crewed lunar landing by 2024. Although this ambitious target is still in place, it is widely believed that it will slip by at least a year.
Artemis activities will go far beyond Artemis 3’s historic touchdown. NASA hopes the program will establish a long-term, sustainable human presence around the moon by 2020.
NASA hopes to make a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s. The agency believes this will also be possible because of the expertise and skills gained.
