NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission

NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission aims to be the first woman to land on the Moon, the first in color, by 2025. For more information on the new era of space development, please click here. “Artemis” is a space mission currently being carried out by NASA to land the first female astronaut and the first colored astronaut on the South Pole of the Moon. It will be the first human-crewed lunar mission for the American space agency since Apollo 17 in 1972.

As the name suggests, Artemis 1 will be the first mission of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program. Artemis 1 aims to show that SLS and Orion can respond to crew missions by sending crew-free Orion capsules to the vicinity for about a month

There are four main stages to the lunar exploration of Artemis. The contents are as follows.

Orion spacecraft

Orion Spacecraft Crew, Headquarters, Service Module Source: NASA (2019)

The Orion, equipped with a life support system and a shuttle interface, is the command module necessary to transport astronauts into space.

Luna Gateway (Lunar Gateway)

Luna Gateway is a small space station that orbits the Moon and is designed as a flexible platform for missions to the Moon and beyond.

Unlike the International Space Station (ISS), the Luna Gateway is not a permanent facility and functions as a platform for astronauts to stay and conduct research for a short period. In addition, scientific research can continue between manned lunar exploration.

International organizations such as the European Space Agency (ESA) work with NASA on the design.

Lunar lander

The lunar lander is used to transport goods and people from Luna Gateway to the Moon’s surface. Together with private companies, NASA has developed human landing systems (HLS) and a series of vehicles for robots and cargo.

The Apollo lunar lander was designed to return once to the surface of the Moon, but the landing system of the Artemis mission is set to be used for multiple missions.

Space Launch System (SLS)

A launch rocket integrates these elements and carries them into space beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. This super-heavy rocket can carry nearly 180,000 kg, and it is said that one launch will cost more than 800 million dollars. When completed, the SLS will be the most powerful rocket globally, comparable to the first Saturn V rocket that carried astronauts to the Moon for the first time.