IS time to go back to the moon. Almost fifty years after the mission Apollo 17, the man is ready to return to walk on the satellite. Today, Monday 29 August, at 2.33 pm Italianwill take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida the SLS vector, Space Launch Systemwhich will carry the capsule Orion around the moon. There will be no men on board. Today’s, in fact, called Artemis Iis just the first step in a program that will bring astronauts back to the moon at the end of 2025.
Artemis I, the first stage of an ambitious program
The Space Launch System it is 111 meters high and has a diameter of 8.4 meters. Is considered the largest rocket ever built. On its top it is integrated the Orion capsule which, in fact, will not host people in flesh and blood but three mannequins equipped with sensors (which will register vibrations, accelerations and radiation levels). These mannequins were given curious names: Commander Moonikin Campos, Helga and Zohar.
But on board there will also be some latest generation instruments and mini-satellites that will hunt for water and hydrogen on the lunar surface.
Artemis I, therefore, will only be the first stage of a truly ambitious program. Scheduled for 2024, Artemis II will bring a human crew to the lunar orbit but without landing on the surface. Artemis III – scheduled for the end of 2025 – will instead be the mission that will physically lead man to walk on the Moon again. This mission will lay an important foundation that in the future can make the satellite an outpost for journeys to Mars.
Between 1969 and 1972, twelve astronauts walked the lunar soil. Starting with Artemis III NASA plans to launch manned missions about once a year. And the builder of the lunar lander will be the Space X’s Elon Musk.
The role of Europe in Artemis
The Director General of ESA (European Space Agency) Josef Aschbacher he wanted to underline the importance that this mission carries for our continent. “It is a historic moment for Europe. In this decade the first woman and the next man will walk on the surface of the Moon and the European Space Agency is building the hardware that will provide the propulsion to transport and support them.“.
In fact, there is not only one strongly symbolic factor for the United States: Europe is also involvedfrom the realization of the European Service Module of the Orion capsule to the presence of three European astronauts who will travel on the lunar orbit.
It is the time of the first woman on the moon
About this, NASA has repeatedly confirmed a very specific will: to bring the first woman to the moon.
If it is true that the name of the chosen astronaut has not yet been announced, it is certain that in the crew that will represent the human return to the moon there will also be a woman. It will be ours Samantha Cristoforetti? We will be to see …
The desire to return to the Moon arises, as already mentioned, also from the need to have a foothold for human expeditions to Mars. This was also confirmed by NASA administrator himself, Bill Nelson: “In these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space and develop the science and technology to send the first humans to Mars“.
Artemis I and the weather unknown
Today at 14.33 Italian there will be the launch of the Artemis rocket towards the Moon. These last few hours, however, have brought some concerns to the top NASA. Not just for weather conditions uncertain but also for some problems (later solved) in the loading of propellants. In fact, the loading of liquid hydrogen used as a propellant together with oxygen in the American Space Launch System was interrupted twice.
Orion will orbit the Moon and eventually land in the Pacific Ocean.
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