The US space agency said on Saturday that they plan to land astronauts on the moon by 2025 and have enough infrastructure to keep them there for extended periods -a plan they believe will pave the way for an eventual Mars expedition.
“This first mission is our first test of our deep space transportation systems before we put crew on the vehicles,” James Free, the head of exploration systems development for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said at a news conference just days before the launch of Artemis 1.
NASA’s eventual goal of setting up a colony on the moon could offer key information about the challenges that could come with a future expedition to Mars.
NASA will launch a next-generation mega-rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew capsule it is designed to carry, on Monday, sending the uncrewed capsule around the moon and back to Earth on a six-week test.
The journey is intended to put the SLS vehicle, considered the world’s most complex and powerful rocket ship, through a rigorous stress test of its systems during an actual flight before it is deemed ready to carry astronauts to the moon and beyond.
Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said her team will conduct final checks and providing there are “favourable” results, she plans a lift-off at 0833ET/1233GMT on Monday in Cape Canaveral.
The journey is intended to put the SLS vehicle, considered the world’s most complex and powerful rocketship, through a rigorous stress test of its systems during an actual flight before it is deemed ready to carry astronauts.
The SLS represents the biggest new vertical launch system since the Saturn V rockets flown during its Apollo moon program of the 1960s and 1970s.
More than a decade in development with years of delays and billions of dollars in cost overruns, the SLS-Orion spacecraft so far has cost at least $37 billion, including design, construction, testing and ground facilities.
NASA’s Artemis program, named for the goddess who was Apollo’s twin sister in ancient Greek mythology, aims to return astronauts to the moon as early as 2025 and establish a long-term lunar colony as a steppingstone to even-more-ambitious future voyages sending people to Mars.
If successful, Artemis I would pave the way for the first crewed SLS-Orion mission, an out-and-back flight around the moon designated Artemis II, as early as 2024, followed a year or more later by an Artemis III trip to the lunar surface.
Credit Reuters
