NASA's Orion spacecraft successfully splashed down after a 25-day mission to the moon called Artemis. On board the capsule is a crew of three dummies with sensors and radiation detectors, as well as research satellites – they studied the surface of the moon.
The flight of the Orion to the Earth's satellite, around it and back is the first stage of the mission, the main purpose of which is to land people on the Moon and create conditions for a long-term stay there, as well as prepare for subsequent missions to Mars.
In 2024, NASA will launch the Artemis 2 mission with a crew on board: four astronauts will have to fly around the moon. The Artemis-3 mission is scheduled for 2025: astronauts will have to land on the surface of the moon.
A spacecraft for manned flights consists of three parts – a habitation module, a service module, life support systems and an emergency rescue system. The carrier for Orion is the Space Launch System rocket, which consists of a cargo compartment, an upper stage, a main stage and two solid-fuel boosters. This is the most powerful rocket in the world. The launch mass of the rocket weighs about 2.7 million kg, of which 2.3 is fuel.
On December 11, it became known that Blue Origin and Dynetics would take part in the competition for the development of the second landing module – the successor apparatus for the Human Landing System – for the Artemis program. The winner will be announced in June 2023. The winning company will conduct a demonstration mission, apparently after the launch of Artemis 5 in the late 2020s. Only then can she be selected to participate in the program.
The mission is different from the Apollo mission. Instead of launching the landing and service modules at the same time, the Artemis will use a different approach, which consists in preliminary preparation. Lunar rovers, scientific equipment, equipment for astronauts' stay will be delivered to the surface of the Moon. It also includes a lunar orbital station called Gateway.
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