Back To The Moon: NASA Launches Artemis 1 | Unveiled

Back to the Moon: NASA Launches Artemis 1

The Apollo 11 images beamed back to Earth from the surface of the moon are about as iconic as they come. But, it’s now more than fifty years - half a century - since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took that “giant leap” for our species. And, though there were successful follow up missions following the first moon landing, we haven’t set foot on a lunar landscape since 1972. That, though, is about to change.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re taking a closer look at NASA’s long-awaited return to the moon, and the launch of Artemis 1.

The Artemis program has been long in the making but now we’re finally going to see it in action. The launch of Artemis 1 is scheduled for one of three dates; August 29th, September 2nd, or September 5th, 2022. Essentially, it will be one of the single greatest and most high-profile “test runs” that the world has ever seen. Artemis 1 is the first of three tabled Artemis missions. It’s an uncrewed, up to 42-day, deep space journey that will see the Artemis lunar module, Orion, orbit around the moon for several days, before returning to Earth for re-entry and splashdown. For NASA, it’s the first act in a momentous return to the moon, with Artemis 2 and 3 to follow; a crewed mission back to lunar orbit, and finally a crewed mission to the lunar surface.

Every detail of the Artemis plan will be practiced and pushed to the extreme during Artemis 1, to ensure that future astronauts on the program are as safe as possible. But taking center stage are that lunar module, Orion, and first the Space Launch System (or SLS). The SLS is a spectacular launch vehicle. A giant, 322 feet tall, $23 billion rocket, designed to propel its payload off Earth, out of the atmosphere, and into space. Not since the shuttle program will NASA have operated anything even close to this, with unprecedented thrust generated via more than five million pounds of fuel. NASA itself calls SLS “the world’s most powerful rocket”. But the success of the SLS is really vital for the Agency’s future plans, as it will be NASA’s lead launch vehicle for all Artemis missions, and beyond.

Once the launch itself is over, once the rockets and boosters have detached, then it’s all eyes on Orion, a complex hub for the Artemis missions, consisting of two main parts. First, the crew module, which is large enough to house up to four astronauts at a time. Then, the service module, which carries life support systems and supplies, and doubles up as the Orion engine once the rest of its rocket fuel is spent. At launch, there’s a third part to Orion, too, the Launch Abort System. This can be seen at the very top of the rocket as it stands on the launch pad, and is crucial in that it should kick in were anything to “go wrong” during the opening stages - steering Orion (and the future crew) out of danger. Once Orion is up and away, though, the Abort System detaches from the spacecraft, along with the SLS… leaving Orion alone in space, cruising toward its target, the moon.

There are variables at play throughout the mission. The success of the launch, the precise timing of exit from Earth’s atmosphere, the speed at which Orion itself moves through space, and the need for trajectory correction maneuvers; all could have an effect on journey time. However, the aim is for Orion to take between a week and two weeks to reach its destination, before embarking on at least six days in retrograde orbit around the moon. This means that, as NASA explains, “Orion will travel around the moon opposite the direction the moon travels around Earth”. The spacecraft will place itself in distant retrograde orbit specifically, though, and will journey more than 40,000 miles beyond the moon at its furthest point. The reason for this is that by flying further from the moon itself, Orion can in effect ride the gravitational forces of the Earth-moon system, and therefore use up less fuel, which therefore extends the mission time to as long as possible. By contrast, the closest Orion will get to the moon during Artemis 1 is around sixty miles from the surface, as it flies nearer the moon during orbital entry and exit, to make use of a gravity assist on both occasions. Altogether, NASA calculates that 1.3 million miles of space will be traveled during Artemis 1, from start to finish. And, upon re-entry, the Orion module will be speeding home at 24,500 miles per hour - that’s thirty-two times the speed of sound.

If all goes to plan, Orion should splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on October 10th, 2022. After weeks of groundbreaking study and achievement, it will return to Earth and then be further scrutinized, to determine whether anything was damaged during the mission. And to learn how well the spacecraft withstood its time away, in preparation for the first journey with humans on board. Nevertheless, there will still be a couple of familiar faces inside Orion, during Artemis 1. A mannequin - nicknamed Commander Moonikin Campos - will “pilot” Orion, while there will be two further test “dummies” on board. Moonikin Campos will wear the Orion Crew Survival System spacesuit, to test NASA’s latest astronaut apparel - chiefly to determine that it does work and will keep astronauts safe. The other models will reportedly test radiation guards. But the Artemis 1 crew members most likely to grab the headlines are Snoopy and Shaun the Sheep. Soft toys of both the classic characters will be launched inside Orion, too, predominantly as “zero gravity indicators”... but also, perhaps, as the PR faces for this first breakthrough mission. Snoopy was selected as this was the nickname given to the Apollo 10 command module, back in the 1960s… and Shaun, as an ambassador for the European Space Agency, who are working with NASA on the Artemis program. Finally, and as has been the case with various other space missions in the past, there will be lego minifigures on board Orion, too, as part of an ongoing partnership between Lego and NASA to promote science and technology.

Helpfully, tracking Artemis 1 from start to finish should be reasonably simple, as NASA plans to run a dedicated tracking website with up-to-date news and statistics. Naturally, there are so many differences between this and the Apollo program fifty years ago, but perhaps one of the most significant is that Artemis will be watched and monitored more intently than ever, all over the world. Sure, the moon landings themselves were one of the most-watched television spectacles of the twentieth century, but everything “behind the scenes” was somewhat shrouded in mystery. Now, if you’re so inclined, you can trace Artemis in detail, every step of the way, from here to the moon and back again. The Artemis program is so named partly because, in Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. But, really, while both NASA programs were (and will be) groundbreaking in their own right, Artemis (if it works) will surely represent a major improvement. This opening mission is billed as not just a return to the moon, but as the first step in a long-term plan to stay there. And also as the first stage in NASA’s ultra-ambitious and all-encompassing wider initiative; “Moon to Mars”.

In the near future, it’s hoped that the next Artemis missions after this one will deliver human astronauts to the lunar orbit, and then to the lunar surface. This time, though, thanks to the many rovers and landers that have scaled the moon in the time since the Apollo flights, there’s already significantly more of a human grip on the closest “other” world to us. We have a much greater knowledge of where it is that we’re flying to than even the brightest minds did in the 1960s. We also have fantastically improved technology, with the now-common refrain being that there’s more computing power in a smartphone than NASA had for the whole of Apollo 11. In demonstration of this, Artemis 1 will also include within its payload ten CubeSats - tiny satellites - that will be deployed from Orion around the moon, to gather yet more data. Consider that another of the Artemis mission goals is to build a lunar space station, the Gateway, to serve as a “stopping off point” for future astronauts, and the true impact that this first mission could have begins to take shape.

It’s a question that’s puzzled many in recent decades; why haven’t we gone back to the moon, when getting there in the first place was such a monumental achievement? But before long, thanks to Artemis, it will be a question of the past. There’s still much to be done before the prospect of a Mars landing comes into full view, but Artemis is one mighty step along that road. It’s as though we’ve been locked inside our homes and are now ready to break out again, back into space. The solar system and the universe awaits, but first we need to test the water. And the Artemis program, the SLS, the Orion module, and Shaun the Sheep will help us do just that.