NASA Artemis I Mission to the Moon: All You Need to Know

August 30, 2022

NASA is preparing to return to the Moon more than 50 years after the Apollo missions there. The launch of the Artemis I mission from the Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida was designated for a two-hour window beginning at 8:33am EDT (12:33 GMT) on Monday, August 29.

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The following launch window opens on Friday, September 2 @ 12:48 PM EDT (17:48 GMT). NASA will broadcast the launch live on YouTube. The initial phase of NASA’s new lunar exploration mission, called Artemis I, aims to establish a permanent presence on the Moon’s surface.

At a speed of 39,400 km/h, NASA’s most potent rocket will carry the unmanned Orion spacecraft to the Moon (24,500mph). NASA hopes to put two people on the lunar surface by the end of 2025, but if everything goes according to plan, astronauts could strap in as early as 2024 for a trip around the Moon.

From its launch in Florida to its splashdown in the Pacific, Orion’s flight is planned to span six weeks. This extended mission, which is twice as long as astronaut journeys, is intended to stress and test every system.

The distance to the Moon, which is 386,000 kilometers (240,000 miles), will take almost a week. The capsule will use the Moon’s gravity to swing out and enter a far orbit with a far point of 61,000 kilometers after whirling tightly around the Moon (38,000 miles). That will distance Orion from Earth by 450,000 km (280,000 miles), surpassing Apollo’s distance of 400,727 km (249,000 miles).

Why does NASA want to go back to the Moon after 50 years?

Given that astronauts won’t set foot on the Moon for a few of years and that NASA will have spent around $100 billion by then, it would seem strange for NASA to want to duplicate what it did 50 years ago. But according to NASA officials, the Moon missions are essential to the program for sending people into space and are not merely a repetition of the Apollo moon landings from 1969 to 1972.

At a news conference this month, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson predicted that in the future, “NASA will place the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.” Additionally, astronauts will live and work in deep space while on these increasingly difficult trips, developing the knowledge and technology necessary to launch the first humans to Mars.

As recently as 2010, President Barack Obama said in a speech that NASA should set its sights on more ambitious targets like asteroids and Mars and venture beyond the moon. Obama remarked, “We’ve been there (to the Moon) before.

What is Artemis going to do?

NASA claims that it is returning to the Moon in order to advance science, generate revenue, and inspire future explorers.

NASA hopes to send the first woman and person of color to the Moon with the Artemis missions. The aircraft also carries a number of stowaways for deep space research in addition to the three test dummies.

Once Orion is rushing towards the Moon, ten CubeSats, tiny satellites the size of shoeboxes, carried inside the rocket, will launch. In deep space, they will carry out a variety of scientific investigations and technological demonstrations. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 acquired a few pieces of Moon rock in 1969, and the Orion will also have a rocket engine bolt that was recovered from the water ten years ago.

Previous Moon missions

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin of Apollo 11 acquired a few pieces of Moon rock in 1969, and the Orion will also have a rocket engine bolt that was recovered from the water ten years ago.

Six nations have sent 70 missions to the Moon, all of which have been successful or largely successful, since 1958. According to the NASA archive, a further 41 flights were unsuccessful.

The US and USSR were the only nations to undertake trips to the Moon in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. 40 of the 90 moon missions attempted by the two Cold War opponents were unsuccessful.

No lunar missions were launched in the 1980s.

With the Hiten Orbiter, Japan entered the space race in 1990.

China, India, and the European Space Agency all launched their first productive missions to the Moon in the 2000s.