NASA: The Orion capsule is ready to be sent to the moon

NASA

The Orion capsule is officially over. The NASA crew capsule is now preparing for its first mission on the moon. It will make a first space voyage, without astronauts, in June 2020. Then, in 2024, it will allow the Man to tread the lunar ground again. 

In full celebration, NASA has also benefited from the 50 th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to discuss the future.

The Orion crew capsule is ready

On July 20, as NASA celebrated 50 years of Apollo 11, US Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Orion capsule was officially over. "  Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of NASA and the US industry, the Orion Crew Vehicle for the Artemis 1 mission is complete and ready to begin preparations for its first historic flight  ." 

In early July, NASA was testing Orion's emergency system . Since then, Lockheed Martin has confirmed the successful integration of the crew and service modules. However, the capsule will still undergo a series of tests before returning, by the end of the year, to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This is where the preparations for the launch of the Orion capsule will be finalized.

A woman on the moon in 2024

In June 2020, the Artemis 1 mission will be launched. The Orion capsule, unmanned, will spend three weeks in space, including six days in orbit around the moon. His return to Earth will be a crucial test to verify the thermal shielding of the vehicle, while it will penetrate at high speed into our atmosphere. 

The Artemis 2 mission will be launched in 2022, this time with astronauts on board. But the mission that will go down in history will be Artemis 3 in 2024. With the goal of taking the human back to our satellite, it will also be the first mission that will see a woman walking on the moon.