Read: Why is NASA’s hold music so catchy? NASA has hired SpaceX to develop the technology that will transport astronauts from their capsule down to the lunar surface, and the work is under way, but a report by the agency's inspector general has described the project's timelines as “unrealistic.” And the crewless capsule that is currently on its way to the moon? NASA would prefer that it survive the scorching reentry through Earth's atmosphere next month and splash down at sea in one piece. The pressurized spacesuits that astronauts will need to wear on the surface are still in the works, and the garments may not be ready by 2025. Sure, humanity made it to the moon before, but the circumstances that accelerated the Apollo program-a high-stakes race with another space superpower, and generous budgets to meet that challenge-no longer exist. But the path between the first Artemis launch and the first Artemis landing, currently slated for 2025, is studded with uncertainty. These operations, NASA officials hope, will eventually inform planning for future human missions to Mars. The agency aims to assemble a space station orbiting the moon, the same way the International Space Station circles Earth, and establish small outposts on the lunar surface where visiting astronauts can live for weeks at a time. And rather than letting the program peter out after a series of landings, NASA wants to stick around. The first Artemis crew to put its bootprints in the regolith, for example, will not consist solely of white men, as the Apollo missions did, but will include the first woman and first person of color to walk on the moon. Beyond that, NASA has some key differences in mind. The first few missions will resemble Apollo’s a crew of astronauts will make a trip around the moon before another crew descends to the surface. Read: The uncomfortable truths of American spaceflight But as the program racks up attention-grabbing milestones, more people might start to wonder: What’s this Artemis thing all about? Still others fall somewhere in the middle, in the valley of meh. Already, some space enthusiasts are thrilled, while others don’t see the point (especially considering that we’ve already been to the moon before). Artemis, named for Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology, is likely to repeat that history. By the early ’70s, after a few more landings, Americans weren’t tuning in like they used to. As beloved as the Apollo endeavor seems today, it was unpopular throughout the 1960s support spiked only in the aftermath of the first landing, in 1969. That’s the way public opinion usually goes on space travel. (They might have been overshadowed by another overnight launch from Florida- Donald Trump’s third campaign for the presidency-but they’re happening.)Īs big an accomplishment as a moon mission is, many Americans probably didn’t stay up all night waiting for the rocket to launch. A few months after their scheduled takeoff, America’s 21st-century moon dreams are finally under way. But the successful flight of the rocket, the very straightforwardly named Space Launch System, has brought NASA one step closer to delivering the next batch of human beings to the lunar surface. No astronauts were inside the Orion capsule this morning. It’s the first mission in the Artemis program, NASA’s ambitious effort to land American astronauts on the moon for the first time in 50 years. today, carrying a gumdrop-shaped capsule on a journey to the moon and back. In the middle of the night, while many Americans were sleeping, NASA launched the country into the next era of space exploration.Ī giant new rocket, the most powerful that the agency has ever built, soared into space just before 2 a.m.
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