2023-08-11 05:01:13
As reminded Agence France Presse (AFP), NASA’s Artemis program is made up of several missions of increasing difficulty, the objective of which is to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, then to prepare for a possible trip to Mars, planned for the 2030s. , Artemis I, has already sent a spacecraft around the Moon in 2022. Artemis II will have to do the same at the end of 2024, but this time with a crew on board. Finally, a year later, in December 2025, the Artemis III mission is supposed to land astronauts on the lunar surface, which would be a first since 1972.
Except that this calendar could soon be called into question. Jim Free, senior NASA official, thus cautiously suggested during this press conference that the Artemis III mission could be transformed into a “different mission” in the event of delays in certain key elements, in particular concerning the landing device. “We are still working with everyone on the contract dates, which is December 2025, but we could end up flying a different mission,” he said. And to add: “If [comme nous le craignons] we are facing significant delays, we are ready to ask ourselves if we can do other missions. »
Why is SpaceX singled out?
In question in particular: the giant SpaceX, responsible for building the lander which will deposit the astronauts on the lunar soil, but whose last test flight carried out a few months ago resulted in a huge explosion shortly after takeoff.
Without elaborating on the subject, Jim Free admitted half-word that the forecasts of the company owned by Elon Musk were not quite in line with his expectations. During a recent visit to the Texas premises where SpaceX is developing the future lander, “we were able to try to better understand their schedule”, he said, promising to give an update on the subject once all. the “digested” information. For now, the date of the new SpaceX test flight has not been communicated.
1691730350
#Usbek #Rica #NASA #postponing #return #Moon