A half century after the end of NASA's Apollo era, the U.S. space agency's long-anticipated bid to return astronauts to the moon's surface remains at least three years away, with much of the necessary hardware still on the drawing board.
NASA's Artemis program, named for the goddess who was Apollo's twin sister in ancient Greek mythology, aims to return astronauts to the moon as early as 2025 and establish a long-term lunar colony as a steppingstone to even-more-ambitious future voyages sending people to Mars.
A successful SLS-Orion launch is a crucial first step. The towering spacecraft, 322 feet tall, was slowly trundled to Launch Pad 39B last week following weeks of final preparations and ground tests. Following separation from the rocket's upper stage more than 2,300 miles from Earth, Orion's thrusters are due to fire to set the capsule on its outbound course, bringing it as close as about 60 miles from the lunar surface before traveling roughly 40,000 miles beyond the moon and back to Earth. The capsule is due for an Oct. 10 Pacific Ocean splashdown.
If successful, Artemis I would pave the way to a first crewed SLS-Orion mission, an out-and-back flight around the moon designated Artemis II, as early as 2024, followed a year or more later by an Artemis III trip to the lunar surface.
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