The Artemis 2 space mission, which will take a crew of astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, is scheduled for November 2024, the US agency NASA announced today.
The schedule is possible thanks to the success of the Artemis 1 mission, which ended in December after 25 days in space.
The Orion spacecraft, with no one on board for a first test flight, successfully orbited the Moon before returning to Earth.
Detailed analysis of this mission continues, NASA associate administrator Jim Free said at a press conference, specifying that the first feedback should allow the second Artemis mission to lift off in “late November 2024”, or in more than a year. and Midle.
It is expected that NASA will announce this year the four crew members of Artemis 2, who will go around the Moon, without landing, during a ten-day mission, knowing only that a Canadian is part of the crew.
Then, the Artemis 3 mission, which should land astronauts on the lunar surface, is expected in 2025.
Artemis, in Greek mythology, is the twin sister of Apollo and a goddess associated with the Moon.
NASA’s goal is to establish a lasting presence on the Moon, building a base on its surface and a space station in orbit around it.
Learning to live on the Moon should make it possible to test all the technologies necessary for an even more complex journey: a crew’s round trip to Mars.