Nasa Reveals Where It Wants The Next Americans To Land On The Moon

Comment NASA has yet to launch the rocket that would carry astronauts to the moon and has yet to select the crew that will explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program. But it has already determined where on the moon the astronauts will land. The space agency announced Friday that it has selected 13 potential areas at the Moon’s South Pole, where ice exists in permanently shadowed craters and is far from the area explored by Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo astronauts. The first human mission to land on the moon in about 50 years is scheduled for 2025 and will be the first manned lunar landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972. NASA has vowed to return humans to the lunar surface — a bold plan that was born during the Trump administration, which was embraced by the Biden White House. While it has suffered some setbacks and delays, the program is the first human deep space exploration program since Apollo to survive successive administrations. But unlike Apollo, Artemis is designed to establish a permanent presence on and around the moon. And NASA has moved forward with a sense of urgency as China also aims to send astronauts to the moon. In a briefing Friday, NASA officials said they chose the landing sites using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — a robotic spacecraft that has been mapping the lunar surface since 2009 — as well as other studies of the moon. “The selection of these areas means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s associate associate for the Artemis campaign development division. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission done before as astronauts venture into dark regions previously unexplored by humans and set the stage for future long sojourns.” NASA had already announced that it was going to return to the lunar South Pole. But the specific locations, all within a six-degree latitude cluster of the South Pole, were chosen, NASA said, because they provide safe landing sites that are close enough to permanently shadowed areas to allow the crew to conduct a moonwalk as part her six-and-a-half-day stay on the moon. This, NASA said, will allow astronauts “to collect samples and conduct scientific analyzes in an uncompromised area, yielding important information about the depth, distribution and composition of water ice confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole.” Water is important for sustaining human life, but also because its components – hydrogen and oxygen – can be used for rocket propellant. The Apollo missions went to the equatorial regions of the Moon, where there are long stretches of daylight – for up to two weeks at a time. The South Pole, by contrast, can only get a few days of light, making missions more challenging and limiting the windows for when NASA can launch. “It’s a long way from the Apollo sites,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis’s head of lunar science. “Now we’re going somewhere completely different.” The announcement comes as NASA prepares for the first of the Artemis missions, now scheduled for August 29. That flight, known as Artemis I, would mark the first launch of NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket that would send the Orion crew capsule, without any astronauts aboard, into orbit around the moon for a 42-day mission. Earlier this week, the space agency dropped the rocket and spacecraft at pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and officials say everything remains on track for a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. NASA has reserved launch dates for September 2nd and 5th if there is a delay. One of the primary goals of the flight is to test Orion’s heat shield, said Mike Sarafin, director of NASA’s Artemis mission. The heat shield is intended to protect Orion and its future crew from the extreme temperatures it will encounter when it enters Earth’s atmosphere at 24,500 mph or Mach 32. The mission would be followed by a flight of four astronauts to orbit the moon, but not land, until 2024. A human landing, the first since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972, is now tentatively scheduled for 2025. That mission depends on a number of factors, including the development of SpaceX’s Starship rocket and spacecraft, which would rendezvous with Orion in lunar orbit and then ferry astronauts to and from the moon’s surface. “I feel like we’re on a roller coaster that’s about to go over the top of the biggest hill,” Jacob Blitzer, NASA’s chief exploration scientist, told reporters Friday. “All buckle up, we’re going for a ride on the moon.”

title: “Nasa Reveals Where It Wants The Next Americans To Land On The Moon Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-08” author: “Cassandra Hughes”

Comment NASA has yet to launch the rocket that would carry astronauts to the moon and has yet to select the crew that will explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program. But it has already determined where on the moon the astronauts will land. The space agency announced Friday that it has selected 13 potential areas at the Moon’s South Pole, where ice exists in permanently shadowed craters and is far from the area explored by Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo astronauts. The first human mission to land on the moon in about 50 years is scheduled for 2025 and will be the first manned lunar landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972. NASA has vowed to return humans to the lunar surface — a bold plan that was born during the Trump administration, which was embraced by the Biden White House. While it has suffered some setbacks and delays, the program is the first human deep space exploration program since Apollo to survive successive administrations. But unlike Apollo, Artemis is designed to establish a permanent presence on and around the moon. And NASA has moved forward with a sense of urgency as China also aims to send astronauts to the moon. In a briefing Friday, NASA officials said they chose the landing sites using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — a robotic spacecraft that has been mapping the lunar surface since 2009 — as well as other studies of the moon. “The selection of these areas means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s associate associate for the Artemis campaign development division. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission done before as astronauts venture into dark regions previously unexplored by humans and set the stage for future long sojourns.” NASA had already announced that it was going to return to the lunar South Pole. But the specific locations, all within a six-degree latitude cluster of the South Pole, were chosen, NASA said, because they provide safe landing sites that are close enough to permanently shadowed areas to allow the crew to conduct a moonwalk as part her six-and-a-half-day stay on the moon. This, NASA said, will allow astronauts “to collect samples and conduct scientific analyzes in an uncompromised area, yielding important information about the depth, distribution and composition of water ice confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole.” Water is important for sustaining human life, but also because its components – hydrogen and oxygen – can be used for rocket propellant. The Apollo missions went to the equatorial regions of the Moon, where there are long stretches of daylight – for up to two weeks at a time. The South Pole, by contrast, can only get a few days of light, making missions more challenging and limiting the windows for when NASA can launch. “It’s a long way from the Apollo sites,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis’s head of lunar science. “Now we’re going somewhere completely different.” The announcement comes as NASA prepares for the first of the Artemis missions, now scheduled for August 29. That flight, known as Artemis I, would mark the first launch of NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket that would send the Orion crew capsule, without any astronauts aboard, into orbit around the moon for a 42-day mission. Earlier this week, the space agency dropped the rocket and spacecraft at pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and officials say everything remains on track for a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. NASA has reserved launch dates for September 2nd and 5th if there is a delay. One of the primary goals of the flight is to test Orion’s heat shield, said Mike Sarafin, director of NASA’s Artemis mission. The heat shield is intended to protect Orion and its future crew from the extreme temperatures it will encounter when it enters Earth’s atmosphere at 24,500 mph or Mach 32. The mission would be followed by a flight of four astronauts to orbit the moon, but not land, until 2024. A human landing, the first since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972, is now tentatively scheduled for 2025. That mission depends on a number of factors, including the development of SpaceX’s Starship rocket and spacecraft, which would rendezvous with Orion in lunar orbit and then ferry astronauts to and from the moon’s surface. “I feel like we’re on a roller coaster that’s about to go over the top of the biggest hill,” Jacob Blitzer, NASA’s chief exploration scientist, told reporters Friday. “All buckle up, we’re going for a ride on the moon.”

title: “Nasa Reveals Where It Wants The Next Americans To Land On The Moon Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-21” author: “Brandon Little”

Comment NASA has yet to launch the rocket that would carry astronauts to the moon and has yet to select the crew that will explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program. But it has already determined where on the moon the astronauts will land. The space agency announced Friday that it has selected 13 potential areas at the Moon’s South Pole, where ice exists in permanently shadowed craters and is far from the area explored by Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo astronauts. The first human mission to land on the moon in about 50 years is scheduled for 2025 and will be the first manned lunar landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972. NASA has vowed to return humans to the lunar surface — a bold plan that was born during the Trump administration, which was embraced by the Biden White House. While it has suffered some setbacks and delays, the program is the first human deep space exploration program since Apollo to survive successive administrations. But unlike Apollo, Artemis is designed to establish a permanent presence on and around the moon. And NASA has moved forward with a sense of urgency as China also aims to send astronauts to the moon. In a briefing Friday, NASA officials said they chose the landing sites using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — a robotic spacecraft that has been mapping the lunar surface since 2009 — as well as other studies of the moon. “The selection of these areas means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s associate associate for the Artemis campaign development division. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission done before as astronauts venture into dark regions previously unexplored by humans and set the stage for future long sojourns.” NASA had already announced that it was going to return to the lunar South Pole. But the specific locations, all within a six-degree latitude cluster of the South Pole, were chosen, NASA said, because they provide safe landing sites that are close enough to permanently shadowed areas to allow the crew to conduct a moonwalk as part her six-and-a-half-day stay on the moon. This, NASA said, will allow astronauts “to collect samples and conduct scientific analyzes in an uncompromised area, yielding important information about the depth, distribution and composition of water ice confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole.” Water is important for sustaining human life, but also because its components – hydrogen and oxygen – can be used for rocket propellant. The Apollo missions went to the equatorial regions of the Moon, where there are long stretches of daylight – for up to two weeks at a time. The South Pole, by contrast, can only get a few days of light, making missions more challenging and limiting the windows for when NASA can launch. “It’s a long way from the Apollo sites,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis’s head of lunar science. “Now we’re going somewhere completely different.” The announcement comes as NASA prepares for the first of the Artemis missions, now scheduled for August 29. That flight, known as Artemis I, would mark the first launch of NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket that would send the Orion crew capsule, without any astronauts aboard, into orbit around the moon for a 42-day mission. Earlier this week, the space agency dropped the rocket and spacecraft at pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and officials say everything remains on track for a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. NASA has reserved launch dates for September 2nd and 5th if there is a delay. One of the primary goals of the flight is to test Orion’s heat shield, said Mike Sarafin, director of NASA’s Artemis mission. The heat shield is intended to protect Orion and its future crew from the extreme temperatures it will encounter when it enters Earth’s atmosphere at 24,500 mph or Mach 32. The mission would be followed by a flight of four astronauts to orbit the moon, but not land, until 2024. A human landing, the first since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972, is now tentatively scheduled for 2025. That mission depends on a number of factors, including the development of SpaceX’s Starship rocket and spacecraft, which would rendezvous with Orion in lunar orbit and then ferry astronauts to and from the moon’s surface. “I feel like we’re on a roller coaster that’s about to go over the top of the biggest hill,” Jacob Blitzer, NASA’s chief exploration scientist, told reporters Friday. “All buckle up, we’re going for a ride on the moon.”

title: “Nasa Reveals Where It Wants The Next Americans To Land On The Moon Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-11” author: “Laura Labadie”

Comment NASA has yet to launch the rocket that would carry astronauts to the moon and has yet to select the crew that will explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program. But it has already determined where on the moon the astronauts will land. The space agency announced Friday that it has selected 13 potential areas at the Moon’s South Pole, where ice exists in permanently shadowed craters and is far from the area explored by Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo astronauts. The first human mission to land on the moon in about 50 years is scheduled for 2025 and will be the first manned lunar landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972. NASA has vowed to return humans to the lunar surface — a bold plan that was born during the Trump administration, which was embraced by the Biden White House. While it has suffered some setbacks and delays, the program is the first human deep space exploration program since Apollo to survive successive administrations. But unlike Apollo, Artemis is designed to establish a permanent presence on and around the moon. And NASA has moved forward with a sense of urgency as China also aims to send astronauts to the moon. In a briefing Friday, NASA officials said they chose the landing sites using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — a robotic spacecraft that has been mapping the lunar surface since 2009 — as well as other studies of the moon. “The selection of these areas means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s associate associate for the Artemis campaign development division. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission done before as astronauts venture into dark regions previously unexplored by humans and set the stage for future long sojourns.” NASA had already announced that it was going to return to the lunar South Pole. But the specific locations, all within a six-degree latitude cluster of the South Pole, were chosen, NASA said, because they provide safe landing sites that are close enough to permanently shadowed areas to allow the crew to conduct a moonwalk as part her six-and-a-half-day stay on the moon. This, NASA said, will allow astronauts “to collect samples and conduct scientific analyzes in an uncompromised area, yielding important information about the depth, distribution and composition of water ice confirmed at the Moon’s South Pole.” Water is important for sustaining human life, but also because its components – hydrogen and oxygen – can be used for rocket propellant. The Apollo missions went to the equatorial regions of the Moon, where there are long stretches of daylight – for up to two weeks at a time. The South Pole, by contrast, can only get a few days of light, making missions more challenging and limiting the windows for when NASA can launch. “It’s a long way from the Apollo sites,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis’s head of lunar science. “Now we’re going somewhere completely different.” The announcement comes as NASA prepares for the first of the Artemis missions, now scheduled for August 29. That flight, known as Artemis I, would mark the first launch of NASA’s massive Space Launch System rocket that would send the Orion crew capsule, without any astronauts aboard, into orbit around the moon for a 42-day mission. Earlier this week, the space agency dropped the rocket and spacecraft at pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and officials say everything remains on track for a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. NASA has reserved launch dates for September 2nd and 5th if there is a delay. One of the primary goals of the flight is to test Orion’s heat shield, said Mike Sarafin, director of NASA’s Artemis mission. The heat shield is intended to protect Orion and its future crew from the extreme temperatures it will encounter when it enters Earth’s atmosphere at 24,500 mph or Mach 32. The mission would be followed by a flight of four astronauts to orbit the moon, but not land, until 2024. A human landing, the first since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972, is now tentatively scheduled for 2025. That mission depends on a number of factors, including the development of SpaceX’s Starship rocket and spacecraft, which would rendezvous with Orion in lunar orbit and then ferry astronauts to and from the moon’s surface. “I feel like we’re on a roller coaster that’s about to go over the top of the biggest hill,” Jacob Blitzer, NASA’s chief exploration scientist, told reporters Friday. “All buckle up, we’re going for a ride on the moon.”