by Hal Jordan…
INTRODUCTION
No human being has walked on the Moon since Eugene Cernan stepped off the lunar surface and boarded the Apollo 17 Lunar Module for the return flight to Earth on December 13, 1972.
On December 11, 2017, the President of the United States signed Space Policy Directive 1. This revised the 2010 United States National Space Policy to include the following specific text: “Lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions beyond low-Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations.” Thus was born the Artemis Program.
Artemis was the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister to Apollo. The Apollo program, of course, landed previous astronauts on the Moon. Artemis will provide the next generation of lunar landings.
THE PLAN
Using new spacecraft, systems, and procedures, the program will send astronauts to land on the Moon by 2024. New spacecraft will be “built to international interoperability standards with as many reusable components as possible for long-term sustainability at the Moon.” NASA will partner with nations, industries, and universities to accomplish more than one government agency could do alone.
The first mission, Artemis I, will take an uncrewed capsule on a journey around the Moon, then return to Earth and safely splash down. Artemis II will be similar, but with a crew aboard the capsule. The Artemis III mission will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon. Future missions will establish a space station in Lunar orbit and a permanent Artemis base at the Moon’s south pole.
THE COMPONENTS
Crawler-transporter – A pair of tracked vehicles used to transport spacecraft from NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39.
Gateway – An outpost in Lunar orbit that provides support for astronauts preparing to land on the Moon, and a staging point for deep space exploration.
Human Landing System (HLS) – Lunar lander that allows astronauts to live on the Lunar surface for up to a week.
Launch Pad 39B – Currently being upgraded, this pad was used to launch the Saturn V rockets for the Apollo program, and will be used in the future for the Artemis program.
Orion – A new spacecraft that will “serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.”
Space Launch System (SLS) – The most powerful rocket ever built, the SLS produces 8.8 million pounds of thrust.
Vehicle Assembly Building – The large building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble pre-manufactured space vehicle components and stack them vertically onto the crawler-transporter.
xEMU (Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit) – Next generation Lunar spacesuits with better mobility.
HOW THE PLAN WORKS
The components for the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft are delivered to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The components are stacked on one of the crawler-transporters.
The crawler-transporter moves the assembly to Launch Pad 39B, where it is launched when ready.
The spacecraft travels to the Moon, achieves Lunar orbit, and docks with the Gateway.
The astronauts leave the Orion module and move into the Human Landing System for the trip down to the Lunar surface.
When the Lunar mission is completed, the astronauts travel back to the Gateway and dock.
The astronauts move into the Orion spacecraft, undock, travel back to Earth, and land in the ocean.
RESULT
It is an exciting time for humanity as we finally move off Earth and begin to establish sustainable offworld colonies.
We Are Going!
SOURCES:
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawler-transporter
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/index.html
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/gateway
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center_Launch_Complex_39B
Space.com – https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-first-flight-with-crew-important-step-on-long-term-return-to-the-moon-missions-to
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis_plan-20200921.pdf
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/new-space-policy-directive-calls-for-human-expansion-across-solar-system
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/suitup
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Assembly_Building
NASA video (narrated by William Shatner) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl6jn-DdafM
NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/feature/what-are-the-next-generation-spacesuits