Objective moon.

Fifty years after the last Apollo flight, the SLS rocket from the Artemis program – twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology – is about to take over.

This rocket, the most powerful in the world, must make its first flight from Florida on Monday August 29 in order to place a capsule in orbit around the Moon, in order to ensure that it will be able to transport astronauts safely. security in the future.

Takeoff – to follow on France 24 – will take place from 2:30 p.m. (Paris time).

This mission launches the US program back on the Earth satellite.

The Artemis program is one of NASA's main priorities for the years to come and aims to send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface on future missions.

Final objective: to allow humans to travel to the planet Mars.

We are ready.

🚀



The uncrewed #Artemis I mission around the Moon will pave the way for future astronauts.

The Artemis Generation is about to leave its mark.



On Aug.

29, watch history with us: https://t.co/Dx9WUCnnBS pic.twitter.com/6yJ4ik6lIw

— NASA (@NASA) August 24, 2022

The name Artemis was chosen in echo of the Apollo program, which took the only twelve men to have ever walked on the Moon, between 1969 and 1972.

An astronaut on lunar soil in 2025?

The Artemis 1 mission is to uncrew NASA's giant new rocket, dubbed SLS, and the Orion capsule atop it, to ensure they can carry astronauts safely in the future.

Orion will go into orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth.

Scheduled for 2024, Artemis 2 will take astronauts to the Moon, but without landing there, as Apollo 8 did. The composition of the crew must be announced by the end of the year.

We already know that a Canadian will be part of it and thus become the first to go into deep space.

The third mission, Artemis 3, can be compared to Apollo 11 as it will be the program's first to land astronauts on the Moon.

These will arrive for the first time on the South Pole of the Moon, where the presence of water in the form of ice has been confirmed, and not near the equator as during Apollo.

>> To read also: "France joins forces with NASA's program to explore the Moon"

Artemis 3 is officially scheduled for 2025, but according to an independent public audit, it should actually take place in 2026 "at the earliest".

From Artemis 3, NASA wants to launch about one mission per year.

🚀 Fifty years after Apollo's last flight, the time has come for #Artemis to take over: the most powerful rocket in the world is about to make its maiden flight from Florida on Monday and launch same blow the American program back on the Moon ⤵️ #AFP pic.twitter.com/MA4FbOgD25

— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) August 28, 2022

A SpaceX landing craft

NASA has selected SpaceX to build the Artemis 3 lander. In concrete terms, this lander will shuttle between the Orion capsule and the lunar surface: once it arrives in orbit around the Moon, the capsule will dock with the craft .

Sent separately upstream, it will then be responsible for lowering the astronauts to the surface, then reassembling them.

It is then aboard Orion that they will return to Earth.

This lander will be a version of the Starship spacecraft, which has so far only carried out suborbital tests.

To reach Earth orbit, it will need to be powered by the Super Heavy first stage rocket, also in development.

And before it can get to the Moon, it will have to refuel by refueling directly in space from another Starship, previously filled with fuel – a highly perilous transfer never before tested.

For the continuation of the Artemis program, NASA has launched a new call for tenders with other companies for the development of additional landers.

Test technologies before going to Mars

The Artemis program also includes the construction of a station in orbit around the Moon, called Gateway.

The launch of the first two elements – a habitation module and the propulsion system – is scheduled for the end of 2024 at the earliest, by a Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX.

The following modules will be launched by SLS at the same time as Orion and its crew, responsible for assembling them at their destination.

The astronauts will stay there between 30 and 60 days.

Eventually, a lander will be docked there to allow them to descend to the Moon from the station.

Gateway must also serve as a stage before future trips to Mars because, paradoxically, the star really at the heart of the Artemis program is not the Moon, but Mars.

NASA wants to test the technologies needed to send the first humans to the red planet: new suits, vehicle to get around, mini-power plant, use of lunar water...

The creation of a base on the surface of the Moon is even considered.

With AFP

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