Artemis II
NASA is planning a return to the moon with the Artemis II launch. Artemis I was a unmanned test flight, whereas Artemis II plans to be a manned expedition looping around the moon (falling short of landing). It is to the planned landing as Apollo 10 was to Apollo 11.
During this mission, humans will be further from the Earth than they have ever been (it will go further beyond the moon than the Apollo missions), and will also have non-US for the first time in a lunar mission.
The astronauts are Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist), Victor Glover (Pilot), Christina Koch (Mission Specialist) and Reid Wiseman (Commander). Jeremy Hansen is Canadian. The journey will take 10 days and will have 24/7 coverage via the internet.
The Artemis II crew, the photo was from 20th Sept 2023, when they were on a ground test at Launchpad 39B.
From Left: Jeremy Hanson, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman
The foolish might say this is the first trip to the moon, after all. if we did it in 1969-72, why are we only returning now? This is straightforward. In 1969-72 it took a huge fraction of GDP to maintain, the whole point was as a display of prestige between the USA and USSR as a proxy for actual conflict. The USA ‘won’, and then with that done - both countries stopped, retreating to low earth orbit. Since then technology has improved, and now it is becoming viable at a more reasonable cost.
That said, the SLS (space launch system) is still expensive, primarily because it is not a reusable system. Each launch requires a brand new rocket.
It is also a political endeavour, parts of it are made in every state (by design) and its a political endeavour. To truly bring the cost down, we need to have re-usable vehicles (hence the interest in SpaceX and ‘Starship’). That still won’t make space travel ‘everyday’.
I am writing this about a week in advance, so the launch window might already be pushed back!
