U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced last week (December 9, 2020) that NASA selected 18 astronauts from its body to form what it is calling the Artemis Team. Two of these astronauts are expected to become the first American man and woman to return to the moon since 1972. This manned lunar mission could be launched as early as 2024 (although there have been recent rumors , the date may go back). Pence introduced the Artemis Team astronauts on Dec. 9 during the eighth National Space Council meeting at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can see how they look in the video above (starting at about minute 1).
NASA said it will announce flight assignments for astronauts later, based on the Artemis team.
Here are names and brief biographies for members of the Artemis team.
Logo and graphics of the Artemis moon program through NASA.
Meanwhile, although an error was reported in the components of the cone-shaped Orion space capsule, the vehicle that will carry the astronauts, all indications are that so far the first Artemis mission, an unmanned mission, is still scheduled for release in November 2021 from the agency. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This mission will be Artemis 1.
The November 2021 launch will be a test of both the Orion capsule and the rocket destined to launch it, called the SLS, or Space Launch System.
The second Artemis mission, scheduled for 2023, will test Orion’s critical systems with humans on board. It is expected to be the first manned mission to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Then comes the Artemis 3 mission, which is expected to take astronauts to the moon, hopefully, in 2024. The Artemis program is part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Space Policy Directive 1, approved in December. of 2017. The stated goal is to return the United States astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972 and to:
… lay the groundwork for a possible mission to Mars.
The Artemis program is named after Apollo’s sister in Greek mythology.
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An Orion spacecraft, traveling by truck, passes the vehicle assembly building at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on November 11, 2014. Image via Tampa Bay Times.
On the Artemis 1 mission, the Orion crew module and the SLS rocket are expected to launch together from the historic Kennedy 39B space center launch complex. The SLS, a more powerful rocket than the Saturn V that propelled Apollo astronauts to the moon, will produce 8.8 million pounds of momentum (39 million newtons) with its five thrusters and four engines during takeoff for carry 2.7 million pounds) of the vehicle into orbit.
After releasing the impellers, the engines will stop and the center stage (main body) of the rocket will separate from the spacecraft.
Below are a series of technical propulsion stages that will give Orion the cheese needed to get out of Earth’s orbit and head toward the moon, but not before leaving several small satellites called CubeSats while is on its way. These CubeSats will perform a series of experiments and demonstrations unrelated to the Artemis mission in deep space, such as exposing living microorganisms to a deep space radiation environment for the first time in more than 40 years.
Representation of an SLS Block 1 with an Orion spacecraft on the platform by an artist before launch. Image via Wikipedia.
Once in lunar orbit, Orion will collect data and allow mission controllers to evaluate its performance for about a week. When ready to return home, Orion will use its space propulsion system provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), along with the gravity of the moon, to return to Earth.
ESA’s service module will provide, in addition to propulsion into space, energy, air and water for astronauts on future missions.
Some three weeks more than 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) later, the Artemis 1 mission will end with a test of Orion’s return capabilities by directing it to land near a ship. recovery on the coast of Baja, California. All this may seem like a technical and complex job. The NASA video below illustrates the entire Artemis 1 mission.
Although the coronavirus pandemic slowed SLS testing, the process is now resumed at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Boeing led the construction of the SLS megarocket and is now involved in a testing process called the green run. It will end with a hot fire test, in which the rocket fires the engines while tied to the ground and holds every step of a launch as if it were actually taking place. This test was initially scheduled for November 2020 and is now scheduled for late December. This delay may leave little room to keep things on track for the release of Artemis 1 in 2021.
After the hot fire test, the center stage will be refurbished and taken to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for further testing. The Orion development, led by Lockheed Martin and Airbus Defense and Space, has experienced its own delays, although the spacecraft is on track to begin preparations for the launch of Artemis 1 in the first half of 2021.
The second mission, the manned Orion capsule test mission, Artemis 2, is scheduled for August 2023.
Future manned reconnaissance missions aboard Orion will dock with Gateway, an advance that NASA plans to build in orbit around the moon to support long-term human return to the lunar surface. NASA lunar director Marshall Smith said:
We don’t need to make the giant leap at once. For a future mission, after proving that we can reach the Moon and get a lander to work, we can dock them with the Gateway.
Illustration of the lunar site of the Gateway orbiting gate. The plan is to build it with commercial and international partners. NASA said: “… the gateway is critical to sustainable lunar exploration and will serve as a model for future missions to Mars.” Read more about Gateway.
In a nutshell: NASA has selected 18 astronauts from its body to form what it is calling the Artemis Team. Two members of this team are expected to become the first American men and women to return to the moon since 1972. The first Artemis mission (an unmanned test mission known as Artemis 1) is still expected to is launched in November 2021. The Artemis program aims to bring humans back to the moon and finally to Mars.
Read more about EarthSky: NASA will test its SLS megarocket in the coming weeks
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