The Artemis Programme of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a United States Government-funded spaceflight program with the goal of landing the first woman and next man on the moon by the year 2024. In this mission, NASA’s powerful new rocket, the Space Launch System or the SLS will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to the Lunar Orbit. Astronauts will dock Orion at the Gateway and transfer to a human landing system for expeditions to the surface of the Moon. They will return to the orbital outpost to board the Orion again before returning safely to Earth. They will land on the lunar south pole where they will conduct tests using robust and innovative engineering and scientific technologies. These technologies will help mankind take the next big leap - sending Astronauts to Mars. That is the main goal. During their time on the moon, Astronauts will find water resources since the South Pole is thought to have some water in the form of ice. They will learn how to operate on the surface of another celestial body to help prepare them for the ultimate ‘Mars Mission’ in the future. According to NASA, this mission will cost about 28 billion dollars! This programme is named after the Greek God ‘Artemis’ who has a twin called ‘Apollo’ ; similar to the Apollo Missions of NASA since both Artemis and Apollo missions have a common objective - landing on the moon. This programme will have a total of 3 missions - Artemis I, Artemis II and Artemis III. Artemis I, an uncrewed flight to test the SLS and Orion spacecraft together, followed by the Artemis II mission, the first SLS and Orion test flight with crew. NASA will land astronauts on the Moon by 2024 on the Artemis III mission A total of 18 Astronauts are undergoing training for the mission out of which 2 will be chosen - one man and one woman. This mission marks the future of space exploration and is the first step of many, to make humans reach Mars.
~Abhimit Suman (Batch of 2020-21)
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