![]() In its grandest realization, the Artemis program-named after Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology-could lead to new space station orbiting the moon called Gateway and outposts on the lunar surface where humans could safely live and work for extended periods. “And just seeing the evolution of this program and all the different players-it’s a great example of the ways that space exploration gets done in the U.S.” “For people who were really interested and enthusiastic about lunar exploration with the Apollo program-and now it’s been 50 years since the last Apollo mission in December of 1972-it’s exciting to see this important step in that process of a return to human lunar exploration,” she says. Those two competing camps somewhat merged in April 2021, when NASA announced that the first moonwalking astronauts of the Artemis program-at least one of whom will be the first woman on the moon-would launch from Earth inside an Orion capsule atop an SLS rocket but would use SpaceX’s in-development Starship spacecraft as a lunar lander.Īccording to Muir-Harmony, however, the greatest immediate impact of the Artemis program may not be the revamping of NASA’s aerospace contracting but rather the inspiration it provides for future scientists, engineers and explorers around the globe-the so-called Artemis generation. “We see these two competing elements going on at once now: SLS, which represents a previous model of space contracting, and, in contrast, the commercial programs,” says Teasel Muir-Harmony, a historian and curator of the Apollo collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Instead of working with more nimble, less expensive commercial companies such as SpaceX or Blue Origin, NASA turned to a handful of legacy aerospace contractors-such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman-that have a habit of delivering results that, while reliable, are also reliably behind schedule and over budget. Complaints have mostly focused on the ballooning costs of developing and building the hardware, now known to exceed $40 billion, which some critics say are a consequence of the traditional way in which the agency assembled the spacecraft. “This launch system is going to give us the capability to put humans and equipment into space that we haven’t had in a long time.”ĭespite the lofty goals of broadening humankind’s off-world horizons, NASA has faced years of criticism for its handling of the SLS and Orion. And that is-we don’t know all the answers,” says Daniel Dumbacher, who oversaw the SLS’s initial development while he was at NASA and now serves as executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “We use the word ‘exploration’ in this discussion, and I think sometimes we forget what exploration is. But the mission will still have some ride alongs-a few secondary science payloads that will help researchers better understand the quirks and challenges of exploring deep space and lunar environments. So no humans will be onboard-that will have to wait until the follow-up flight of Artemis II, optimistically scheduled for 2024. Invariably, not everything will perform exactly according to expectations. It’s the first time NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) will fly, the first time the Orion crew capsule will feel the tug of the moon’s gravity and the first time the spacecraft’s heat shield will experience a blistering plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Artemis I is a test flight- a journey of more than a million miles that will put the space agency’s new crew-rated hardware through its paces. This day has been a long time coming,” NASA’s associate administrator Bob Cabana told reporters during an August 22 press briefing that followed Artemis I’s flight readiness review.īut Cabana and others were quick to stress that this mission is not without risk. “We are ‘go’ for launch, which is absolutely outstanding. ET, with backup dates set for September 2 and 5. Artemis I will blast off from launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Fla., as early as 8:33 A.M. This flight will be the beginning of an intricate series of spaceflights that could send humans back to the moon’s surface-and on a tortuous path to Mars-for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972. ![]() The space agency has officially set August 29 as the launch date for its Artemis I mission. After more than a decade of development, NASA’s new moon rocket will finally attempt to shed the shackles of Earth’s gravity and soar into space.
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