In detail | The keys to the Artemis 2 mission
Artemis 2 is the first crewed mission to take four astronauts to the Moon in more than 50 years. A flight that will last 10 days in which the ship Orionpowered by the SLS rocket, will fly over the satellite without landing on the moon.
· The crew is made up of astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, all of them with extensive experience in space travel. Astronauts will go further than any human being has ever gone in space.
· The mission seeks to test Orion’s critical systems in real conditions, especially life support, thermal control, communications and manual maneuvering capacity, in addition to validating the performance of the European Service Module, the component responsible for energy and propulsion on the ship.
· It is the first time in history that the United States and Europe travel together on a manned mission to the Moon. This marks a before and after in how space is explored. Until now, lunar missions had all been American. With Artemis, NASA incorporates European technology for the first time.
· The most delicate moments of the mission will be the launch, the insertion into the trajectory towards the Moon (TLI) and the re-entry into the atmosphere, where the behavior of the heat shield, adjusted after wear on the first flight of Artemis 1, will be evaluated.
· Artemis 2 is an essential step to prepare for the Artemis 3 mission in 2027, in which a demonstration of a spacecraft rendezvous will be carried out in low Earth orbit Orion with one or two lunar landers designed by private companies; and Artemis 4, when the next lunar landing is planned in 2028.
