Russia plans to launch a lunar lander on Friday after multiple delays, hoping to return to the Moon for the first time in nearly fifty years. On the American side, the NASA Artemis 2 space mission, scheduled for late 2024, will take a crew of four astronauts to the Moon. VIDEOGRAPHIC
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:06 The Artemis II space mission, scheduled for late 2024,
00:10 will take a crew of four astronauts to the moon.
00:13 Three Americans and one Canadian will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft.
00:18 They will be the first humans to travel to the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
00:24 The SLS lofts Orion into space and then jettisons the boosters.
00:29 The core stage separates from the upper stage and the spacecraft.
00:33 Orion and the upper stage, called the Intermediate Cryogenic Propulsion Stage,
00:37 will then orbit the Earth twice.
00:40 The ICPS gives Orion a big push to leave Earth's orbit and head for the moon.
00:45 Once released, ICPS acts as a target for test maneuvers.
00:49 The astronauts switch Orion to manual mode,
00:52 and the crew perform maneuvers to test the craft's orientation and trajectory capabilities.
00:57 They also test GPS and deep space communication systems.
01:02 Then the craft departs for the moon, which is a four-day journey to the far side of the planet,
01:07 looping around the moon 370,000 kilometers from Earth.
01:11 The astronauts test the radiation protection system and emergency procedures.
01:16 Finally, Orion heads back to Earth, which is another four-day journey before landing in the Pacific.
01:23 If all tests are successful, the Artemis III mission could launch one year later,
01:27 enabling astronauts to land on the lunar surface.
01:31 The lunar lander must be finished before this mission.
01:34 NASA's goal is to establish a lasting presence on the moon,
01:38 constructing a base camp on its surface and a spaceship in lunar orbit.
01:42 [Music]
01:45 [Music]
01:48 [Music]
01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]