NASA’s Orion space capsule has fallen into the Pacific Ocean after an unmanned mission around the Moon.
On Monday, NASA will reveal the names of the astronauts — three Americans and a Canadian — who will fly around the moon next year, in preparation for returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time in half a century.
The mission, Artemis II, is scheduled to take place in November 2024 with a crew of four flying around but not landing on the Moon.
As part of the Artemis program, NASA aims to send astronauts to the moon in 2025 — more than five decades after the historic Apollo missions ended in 1972.
Besides putting the first woman and first person of color on the moon, the US space agency hopes to establish a permanent human presence on the lunar surface and eventually launch a trip to Mars.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said this week at the “What’s Next Summit” hosted by Axios that he expects a manned mission to Mars by 2040.
The four Artemis II crew members will be announced at an event at 10:00 am (1500 GMT) at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The 10-day Artemis II mission will test NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket as well as life support systems on the Orion spacecraft.
The first Artemis mission ended in December with the uncrewed Orion capsule returning safely to Earth after a 25-day trip around the Moon.
During the trip around the Earth-orbiting satellite and back, Orion has traveled more than 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) and gone farther from Earth than any previous habitable spacecraft.
Nilsson was also asked at the Axios summit if NASA could stick to its schedule of landing astronauts on the moon’s south pole in late 2025.
“Space is hard,” Nelson said. “You have to wait until you know it’s as safe as possible, because you’re living right on the edge.
“So I’m not very interested in the time,” he said.
“We won’t divorce until it’s true.”
Only 12 people – all white men – have ever set foot on the moon.
© 2023 AFP
the quote: NASA Reveal Crew for 2024 Flight Crew Around the Moon (2023, April 3) Retrieved April 3, 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-04-nasa-reveal-crew-flight-moon.html
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