If it’s up to NASA, a rocket will leave for the moon at the end of this month. This was announced by the US space agency. It is an unmanned missile that must make a test flight and is part of the Artemis project. This is an international space program that NASA has begun to land people on the Moon by 2025.
The Artemis 1 mission is an unmanned flight, a test flight. “Of course you want everything designed on paper to actually work well and be safe,” says Rob van den Berg, a space expert at the Sonnenburg Observatory in Utrecht. The unmanned mission flies in a wide orbit around the Moon and all systems are tested. There are also dolls on board with spacesuits and sensors on them. The rocket flies around the moon for six days and on October 10 – six weeks later – there will be a landing. This is exactly how the manned mission will go, says Van den Berg.
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The last time Americans went to the moon was during the Apollo program, which ran between 1961 and 1972. . on a technology basis. Van der Berg expects that everything will go well during the test. “But the way to find out is to take the test.”
Artemis Mission 3
The Artemis 3 mission will be the first real human landing on the moon within this project. There is still something to be done about it. A space station has yet to be built around the Moon. And the lunar lander, which is likely to be performed by SpaceX, has not yet been delivered. If this mission ultimately goes well, the intention is to make two trips per year to the Moon. “The moon will then become a regular destination for NASA.”
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Van den Berg predicts that the Russians will clench their teeth in NASA’s actions. The Russians were once a superpower in the space field. The last moon landings were made by the Chinese, and they are also very far away. For Americans, it feels like now or never, because they don’t want the moon to fall into the hands of the Chinese.
The Artemis 1 mission will take place on Monday, August 29th.
