Fifty years after the end of the historic Apollo program, the new American space program, Artemis, begins today. The US is beginning – if all goes according to plan – its mission to return to the Moon, for the first time since 1972.

On Monday, at 3:33 pm Greek time, the US Space Agency (NASA) scheduled the launch of the Artemis 1 mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will carry an unmanned capsule. Orion will circle the Moon for a six-week test flight before returning to Earth.

Look at our mega moon rocket @NASA_SLS refuel before launch. To follow @NASAGroundSys for an update on fuel charging in preparation for #Artemis I break away from @NASAKennedy. https://t.co/u3mjNzC8Hu

— NASA (@NASA) August 29, 2022

Weather forecasts so far give an 80% chance that today’s weather conditions will be favorable. Should anything go wrong (due to technical issues or weather conditions), September 2 or 5 were listed as alternative launch dates. A storm hit the Kennedy Center on Sunday, and lightning rods around the launch pad attracted lightning, but NASA wasn’t particularly bothered.

SLS together with Orion have a height of 98 meters. SLS, which took more than a decade to develop and build, is considered the most powerful and complex rocket in the world, although, according to the Economist magazine, it is an excessively expensive government building and a waste of taxpayer money.

The last time such a mega-rocket was launched from the Kennedy Center was in 1973, when a Saturn V rocket launched the Skylab space station into orbit. NASA’s plan is to launch a manned Artemis 2 mission around the Moon in 2024, until finally, in 2025, the Artemis 3 mission lands on the Moon (bringing the first female astronaut to the Moon).

This time, the foundations will likely be laid for a more permanent lunar base and the presence of astronauts on the Earth satellite, with the ultimate goal of a base on Mars in the 2030s. However, some experts do not rule out that this whole schedule is too “tough” and ambitious , so it can be pushed a few years into the future.

The last men to walk on the moon were the two male astronauts of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, while ten other American astronauts had preceded them on five previous missions, with the first lunar landing by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

In recent years, China has successfully landed three robotic missions to the moon and is planning its own lunar base for the 2030s, India and Israel sent their own lunar missions in 2019 but failed, while the South Korean mission is on its way out. into orbit. around the moon. As a rule, traffic from several countries is sent to the Moon, and the US has an additional competitive incentive to catch up.

NASA in recent decades has turned its attention to other planets (Mars) and large moons (Saturn and Jupiter), but now it is again interested in the Moon, including as a way station for more distant space purposes. Moreover, in recent years it has become clear that there is enough frozen water on the Moon, which is important for a more permanent human presence, not only as drinking water, but also as rocket fuel after it decays into oxygen and hydrogen.

The moon or a space station in lunar orbit would serve as a refueling station for a longer journey, for example. on Mars. However, at the moment, scientists do not know exactly how much water is on the Moon and how easy it will be to use in practice, since it is usually deep in craters devoid of sunlight.

^{Source: RES-IPE}