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The location of the Orion spacecraft from the Artemis I mission is 270,000 miles or 434,522 km from Earth. That means the Orion capsule breaks the record for longest distance from the Apollo 13 space mission. Photo/NASA
The Artemis I mission marked the first combined flight of the SLS rocket and Orion capsule, built by Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, under contract to NASA. It marks an ambitious change in direction for the human spaceflight program following NASA’s Apollo missions decades ago.
The Artemis I mission, named after the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt and twin sister of Apollo, aims to send astronauts back to the lunar surface as early as 2025. To date, only 12 people have walked on the moon, all of them NASA astronauts, over six Apollo missions which lasted from 1969 to 1972.
Read also; The Orion Artemis 1 spacecraft successfully enters lunar orbit
The Artemis program has a much broader horizon and involves commercial partners such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and European, Canadian and Japanese space agencies. Artemis’ mission is more geared towards the good of science, not just sending people to the Moon.
The Orion capsule doesn’t yet carry astronauts, but it does contain a simulated crew of three mannequins equipped with sensors to measure radiation levels and other pressures on its journey to the Moon. If the Artemis I mission is successful, a crewed Artemis II flight will be launched to circumnavigate the moon as early as 2024.
This was followed within a few years by the program to land the first astronauts on the moon, one of them a woman, with Artemis III. Meanwhile, sending astronauts to Mars is expected to take at least a decade and a half.
Read also; 9 hours after launch, Orion Artemis 1 Capsule sends the first images of Earth
More than a decade in development with years of delays and budget overruns, the SLS-Orion spacecraft cost NASA at least $37 billion, quoted by sabcnews page on Tuesday (11/29/2022). With total spending, Artemis is projected to reach $93 billion by 2025.
NASA says the program has generated tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in commerce. The Orion Artemis I capsule is expected to return to Earth on December 11, 2022 and land in the Pacific Ocean.
(wib)
