Artemis 1 The US returns to the Moon

Finally, the big day arrives: h Artemis 1the first mission of the US program to return to the Moon, may launch on August 29, announced today NASA.

Two other dates are considered possible for the launch: the 2nd or 5th of September.

NASA deliberately chose to make this announcement today, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Fifty-three years later, the Artemis program marks America’s return to Earth’s satellite. This first mission, however, will not be manned. Its purpose is to conduct a test of NASA’s new giant rocket, the SLS (this will be its first flight) and the Orion capsule atop it.

The launch will take place from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The capsule will reach the Moon where it will enter orbit before returning to Earth. Depending on the final launch date, the mission will last a total of from 39 to 42 days.

“Orion” has already been in space once, for a test flight in 2014. Then it made two orbits around the Earth to test its heat shield.

This time it will go much further and experience much more extreme conditions when entering the Earth’s atmosphere: a speed of almost 40,000 kilometers per hour and a temperature that will reach half that recorded on the surface of the Sun, as explained by Mike Sarafin, the person in charge of the mission.

The manned Artemis 2 mission is scheduled for 2024. The astronauts will not set foot on the surface of the Moon, however, they will simply orbit it. The members of Artemis 3 will have the opportunity to walk on lunar soil as early as 2025, based on NASA’s planning.

RES-EMP

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