Artemis lunar-exploration programme

Make PDF

What is the  Artemis mission?

• • The three-week Artemis I mission marks the first flight of the combined SLS rocket and the Orion capsule together, built by Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, respectively, under contract with NASA.
  • After decades with NASA focused on low-Earth orbit with space shuttles and the International Space Station, Artemis I also signals a major change in direction for the agency’s post-Apollo human spaceflight program.

• Named for the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt and Apollo’s twin sister — Artemis aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface as early as 2025.

• As part of the mission a rocket was attached with an empty crew capsule and sent into a wide orbit around the moon; it will return to Earth in December if everything goes well.
• The Artemis I mission entails a 25-day Orion flight bringing the capsule to within 97 km of the lunar surface before flying 64,400 km beyond the moon and looping back to Earth. The capsule is expected to splash down at sea on December 11.
• The space agency is aiming to send four astronauts around the moon on the next flight, in 2024, and land humans there as early as 2025.
• The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) is the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA, with more thrust than either the space shuttle or the mighty Saturn V that carried men to the moon. 
• After coming within 80 miles (130 kilometers) of the moon, the Orion capsule will enter a far-flung orbit stretching about 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond.
• NASA has hired Elon Musk’s SpaceX to develop Starship, the 21st-century answer to Apollo’s lunar lander. 
• Starship will carry astronauts back and forth between Orion and the lunar surface, at least on the first trip in 2025. 
• The plan is to station Starship and eventually other companies’ landers in orbit around the moon, ready for use whenever new Orion crews pull up.

Make PDF