Artemis Launch
WORDS BY KATIA RAWLINGS.
Artemis 1 Launch
One of the most recent movements in space travel occurred on November 16th 2022, at 5:17pm ACDT, when Artemis I launched as the first in a series of missions to build a human presence on the moon. It launched from NASA’s modernised Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The launch was conducted with the intention of demonstrating the space flight systems and re-entry. NASA reported that the mission went for 25 days, 10 hours and 53 minutes, the Orion spacecraft travelling 2.1 million kilometres before re-entering the atmosphere on December 11th, 2022. After the success of Artemis I, the follow up mission, Artemis II, will be NASA’s first mission with a crew. The developments involved in Artemis II hope to pave the way for the first woman to land on the moon in 2024 for the Artemis project’s first crewed moon landing on Artemis III.
The components of the Artemis program include Orion, the Space Launch System, and the Exploration Ground Systems. Orion is the first spacecraft with the ability to carry humans on long-duration missions. The Space Launch System is a rocket that can launch humans and habitats, and support life in deep space. The Exploration Ground Systems is modernising NASA’s space systems to support launch and recovery of astronauts, which includes the spaceport at the Kennedy Space Centre. There are many more aspects involved in the development and testing of such a spacecraft before launch can commence. NASA and America’s space program has spent over 50 years in the development process before this monumental launch. Artemis will help kickstart the movement of human survival on the moon, and eventually Mars.
NASA’s Gateway program is also an important aspect of the Artemis project. The Gateway program is building a small human run space station that will orbit the moon to provide capabilities to support the campaign. Gateway will provide a place for NASA’s heaven sailing staff to live and work, as well as a place to conduct science and human exploration of the Moon and Mars in the many years to come. It will also serve as a pit stop between Orion and the lunar landers on space missions. The Human Landing System or lunar landers will take astronauts from orbit to the surface and back.
NASA’s new artemis project will see us back on the moon before we know it.
EDITORIAL NOTE: This article has been reuploaded and was originally published in 2023.