Paul Brandt demanded “Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the Moon,” and NASA responded with another gravity defying achievement.
In the wee hours of Wednesday the 16th, Artemis 1 took off from Florida on its historic trip to the moon. This momentous trip is possible after nearly half a decade of preparations, but that is not to say that the ship took off with no problems. Artemis 1 encountered many issues: leak issues with the tanks, technical issues with the mega moon rocket, and even two hurricanes.
Last Minute Repairs
The red crew, a team trained to make repairs on the rocket while it has been loaded with fuel, was called in to make repairs for the fuel leak issue. Trent Annis, a red crew member, recounted his experience of working on Artemis prior to liftoff.
“The rocket, it’s alive, it’s creaking, it’s making venting noises—it’s pretty scary. My heart was pumping. My nerves were going but, yeah, we showed up today. When we walked up the stairs. We were ready to rock and roll.”
Future Missions
NASA has three moon projects called Artemis in progress right now. Artemis 1 was launched on Wednesday and will be an unmanned flight to survey the Moon. Artemis 2 will aim to send a group of astronauts further into space and break their own barriers. Artemis 3, however, hopes to break a whole other glass ceiling. The third space trip will aim to send the first female person of color to the moon. The astronaut will conduct a series of experiments while on the moon and will be sent back home at completion of the week.
We will build an Artemis Base Camp on the surface and the Gateway in lunar orbit. These elements will allow our robots and astronauts to explore more and conduct more science than ever before.
NASA
Artemis 1 is being used to test the Space Launch System for any future problems that could be presented in the following Artemis trips. The Space Launch System is the most powerful rocket to ever be created. It is 1.3 million times more powerful than the rocket used for the Apollo missions. Artemis 1 will travel to the moon, orbit it, travel 64,737 km into space, and then it will return home.
All in all, Artemis 1 is the beginning of many new precedents, and the world is waiting to see what new changes the following missions will bring.
