The NASA Artemis Program It will have a high point: the arrival of the first woman and the next man on the Moon. This will happen by 2025, and the aerospace agency presented all the details about the Artemis III Mission.
Four astronauts will travel, but only two will step on the surface of our natural satellite, as planned.
Let us remember that, in the Artemis I Mission (2022), the SLS megarocket propelled the Orion drone into lunar orbit, then back to Earth. In Artemis II This same trajectory will be carried out, but with the designated astronauts.
Artemis III will carry four astronauts from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, with two of them stepping on the lunar surface, specifically the region near the South Pole, and the other two in the orbit of the satellite.
The journey of NASA astronauts to the Moon
The trip to the Moon will last several days, and the astronauts will place the Orion spacecraft in a near rectilinear lunar halo orbit (NRHO). This orbit is gravitationally balanced between the Earth and the Moon, to maximize fuel efficiency.
Thanks to the Starship human landing system created by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, the two astronauts will go from Orion to the surface of the earth’s natural satellite.
The two astronauts will spend 6.5 days on the surface of the Moon, while its two companions remain in orbit. Later, Starship will take them back to Orion, and from there the four will travel back to our planet.
The step by step when they are on the lunar surface
NASA astronauts designated to go to the lunar surface will perform scientific work inside the Starship and moonwalks, wearing advanced space suits created by Axiom Space.
“These suits,” NASA explains, “will give astronauts a greater range of motion and flexibility to explore more of the landscape than on previous lunar missions.”
Both explorers will take pictures and videos, they will study the geology, collect samples and collect more data over the South Pole region of the Moon, before returning to the Orion spacecraft with his companions.
It is anticipated that, in the future, NASA and other collaborating agencies build a lunar space laboratory, the Gateway. The main objective is deep space exploration, with a permanent human presence on the natural satellite.