The Mission Artemis I of the POT will be released on August 29, weather and other elements permitting. It is part of the Artemis Program, which seeks to put the first woman and the next man on the Moon.
Let us remember that for the first phase three dummies and other elements will go to the lunar orbit with Orion Ship, sent by the SLS rocket. The dummies will help assess space radiation conditions, among more details.
In Artemis II, instead of mannequins, it will be the designated astronauts who will travel to lunar orbit. Only for Artemis III, astronauts will step on the surface of the Moon: this is expected to occur in 2024.
With less than two weeks to go before the launch of the Artemis I Mission, how are the preparations going? We leave you five facts so you can learn more about the subject.
1. The Artemis SLS is ready to roll to the launch pad
For this Tuesday, August 16, the Space Launch System, the megarocket that will take the Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit, will be moved to the launch pad.
Last weekend, the Artemis team completed tests of the flight termination system, which according to NASA marks the final main activity before shutting down the rocket and retracting the final access platforms.
2. The latest tests
The most recent appraisals and repairs to elements of Artemis I are:
- The replacement of the flight doors of the engine section in the core stage of the rocket.
- The exchange of the inflatable seal between the access arm of the mobile launcher crew and launch abort system and the Orion crew module.
3. The three mannequins are already inside the Orion ship
Helga, Zohar and Moonikin Campos they are already integrated into the Orion ship. The first two are torsos with sensors to measure the radiation to which the crew will be exposed, while the last is a complete mannequin that will wear the spacesuit.
4. Payloads still waiting
On the Orion ship, in addition to the mannequins, payloads like NASA’s Biology Experiment-1 will also go into lunar orbit. They will not be mounted on the ship yet.
These are space biology investigations to analyze the nutritional value of seeds, DNA repair of fungi, adaptation of yeast and gene expression of algae.
5. The forecasts regarding the take-off date are maintained
Liftoff will take place on August 29 at 8:33 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There will be a two-hour window, for a 42-day mission, with a return date of October 10.
But what if there can be no takeoff that day? NASA raised two more dates for the launch, September 2 and 5. The terms are more or less the same, in terms of the number of days of the Artemis I Mission.