More than half a century later, NASA will send astronauts on a mission around the Moon

The four that are chosen will not land on the moon, since it will be a trip so that a year later they will land on the satellite again.

NASA announced that in November 2024 the Artemis 2 space mission will travel to the orbit of the Moon with a crew and it will be the first time since 1972 that humans have approached the satellite.

This programming is due to the success of the Artemis 1 mission, which concluded in December after just over 25 days in space.

The Orion capsule, which flew over without occupants for its first test flight, was propelled by the new SLS rocket – the most powerful in the world – and was put into orbit around the Moon, before returning to Earth.

Detailed analysis of this mission continues, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free said at a news conference. But the first evaluations allow a takeoff of the second mission towards “the end of November 2024”, added the person in charge, that is to say in a year and a half.

For this trip, NASA is expected to announce this year the four crew members of Artemis 2, including a Canadian, who will go around the satellite without landing on a mission of about ten days.

“We are searching for that Artemis 2 crew,” Free added. “At the moment there is nothing stopping us after what we learned with Artemis 1.”

Then will come the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for around 12 months after Artemis 2, in which astronauts will have to land on the south pole of the Moon and which is officially still scheduled for 2025, although it is an uncertain timetable.

Aretemis I was the first mission since 1972 to take off at night – Photo EFE

“Our plan has always been 12 months, but there are important developments that need to be made,” Free warned.

“We need a lander” and we will also “need our space suits” for surface exploration, Free explained.

The lander will be a version of SpaceX’s Starship, but its first orbital flight has yet to take place; while space suits are still under development by the company Axiom Space.

NASA’s goal is to establish a permanent presence on the Moon by building a base and a space station orbiting the satellite.

Apollo 17, the last crew to approach the Moon

On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 took off at night, the only one to do so, from the coast of the state of Florida, in the southeastern United States, until the departure of Aretemis I in November 2022.

It was commanded by Eugene Cernan, a veteran who already knew the lunar landscape, at least from orbit, since he had flown on Apollo 10, the “dress rehearsal” prior to the first moon landing.

They traveled just over 30 kilometers, accumulating rock samples, for example, which are still stored today at the Space Center in Houston.

It was a mission with several incidents, minor ones, but problems nonetheless. Among them, the frequent loss of balance, since the backpack they carried on their backs raised their center of gravity and it was enough for them to lean a little to fall.

With information from agencies

DB

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