"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." are the words that were first said on the moon. However it has been over 50 years since we have been to the moon. We have grown up all our lives for many of us without a single person stepping on the moon. However that is where NASA and the Artemis I mission is coming into play. The Mission that NASA is trying to accomplish is: Landing the first woman and person of color on the moon while also creating a way to have Lunar to Mars travel by first setting up a lunar station that orbits the moon, and then a habitable moon base.
This sounds like stuff out of a sci-fi movie yet here we are on the cusp of making it a reality! This mission can be broken up into 4 different areas of focus: Space Launch System, Moon landing, Orion module, Lunar gateway.
Ill touch on the Artemis I as its the first step of making it a reality, and will be launching here on Sep 3 if all goes well. The Artemis I is a unmanned flight around the moon that will be roughly 100 km above the surface of the moon where it will release the Orion module. This mission will take roughly 42 days to complete where the module will splash down in the pacific. It is mainly testing the SLS and Orion module aspect of this mission before we do manned flights on the Artemis II. Below is a series of steps that the Artemis will take throughout the mission.
The SLS uses two solid rocket boosters with the main rocket has 4 RS-25 rockets. This is now the most powerful rocket to be launched to date! The Orion module is the main unit of transportation for the astronauts. It has emergency life support, sustainability and allows for easy and safe reentry. I have attached a rocket diagram below, however NASA has a clearer version here .
As the twin sister of Apollo, Artemis was a the goddess of the moon, and its a fitting name considering we are trying to get the first woman on the moon. There is much excitement and am so excited to see where it goes!!
Sources:
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/nasa-moon-mission-artemis-program-launch-date
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/sls_reference_guide_2022_v2_508_0.pdf
As the Artemis I is currenting completing its journey, it's exciting to see that the mission has been successful to this point. It will be interesting to see how quickly the Artemis II is sent up if the Artemis I continues to be a successful.
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