In the 1960s and 1970s, human exploration of space, especially the moon, the only natural satellite on earth, was unprecedented. But after that, the enthusiasm that had been doused by the countless "realities on earth" made the moon we could see every day unattainable.
After decades, the United States is finally preparing to "return to the moon" after the Apollo program, and the huge space launch system (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft (Orion) have officially unveiled recently, leaving the aircraft assembly building of NASA's Kennedy Space Center and heading to launch pad 39B, a four-mile journey that took nearly ten and a half hours.
▲ Image courtesy of NASA
The spacecraft and the massive SLS rocket reach an altitude of 322 feet (about 98.14 meters) and weigh 3.5 million pounds (about 1587.57 tons). The SLS development program, which began in 2011, integrates the main components of the Shuttle that operated between 1981 and 2011, with hardware upgrades and the use of new tools and manufacturing techniques. But SLS can't be reused at the moment, so new rockets are required for each mission, so each launch costs up to $4.1 billion .
This huge set of launch equipment will be used for NASA's Artemis I (Artemis I) lunar mission. Artemis is a U.S. manned spaceflight program with the goal of "establishing a long-term base on the moon." And hope to use this as a "pedal" to use the knowledge learned on the moon to make the next big leap: to send astronauts to Mars.
The program takes the name Artemis, derived from the representative of Apollo's twin sisters, the moon goddess of Greek mythology, which will include female astronauts and astronauts of color.
Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis' head of launch, has revealed that NASA may conduct a series of pre-launch tests in early April, after which test data will review the test data to set a specific target launch date for Artemis I.
The upcoming Artemis I mission will be an unmanned flight to test both the SLS and Orion spacecraft, but it will bring two humanoid models to understand the radiation exposure to deep space travel. The Artemis II mission will be the first flight test by SLS and Orion with the crew.
Earlier, former US President Trump had set a goal that Artemis manned lunar landing plan would send astronauts to the moon in 2024. However, due to various reasons, artemis manned moon landing plans will be postponed to 2025, which can be described as a twist and turn.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has said that past congressional funding has been insufficient and that "the Trump administration's 2024 manned lunar landing goal is not technically feasible."
In addition, in August 2021, NASA's General Inspection Office (OIG) released a report that the development progress of the spacesuit was audited and evaluated, and due to the expected delay in the development of the spacesuit, NASA may not be able to complete the production of the spacesuit by November 2024, which will lead to a delay in the US 2024 lunar landing goal.
It is worth mentioning that the postponement of the Artemis program is also related to the dispute between Blue Origin, SpaceX and NASA. The components included in the program are the Space Launch System (SLS), the Orion Manned Spacecraft (Orion), the Lunar Space Station and the Manned Lunar Landing System.
Among them, the manned moon landing system is for commercial companies to bid, originally intended to select two companies, one of which is a "substitute player", but later due to financial and other reasons, NASA only chose SpaceX in 2021. Blue Origin then protested to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) for awarding SpaceX the SLS contract, and the GAO agreed in August with NASA's exclusive procurement contract.
After being dismissed by the GAO, Blue Origin filed a lawsuit in federal court of claims in late August, which ruled in early November invalidated Blue Origin's lawsuit against NASA's choice of SpaceX's starship as the only current manned lunar module for its manned landing system.
The contract for the lunar landing system was finally settled, but the project was frozen for up to 7 months due to the suspension of contract performance during protests and lawsuits, so the first manned lunar landing schedule had to be postponed. Nelson believes this is the main reason for the postponement of Artemis' plans.
Bill Nelson, Credit: Gettys Images
Now that the Artemis I mission has been postponed to the spring of 2022, the Artemis II manned mission is aimed at May 2024, and the Artemis 3 mission, which has sent astronauts to the lunar surface since the time of Apollo, is expected to be no earlier than 2025, when astronauts will begin exploration from the lunar south pole.
▲Image from: NASA
The unveiling of this giant rocket and spacecraft can be said to mark the beginning of NASA's space exploration into the Artemis era. It is hoped that with the help of this plan, human exploration of the universe can also enter a new era.