NASA unveils a multicultural force for the first manned flight to the moon since 1972.
Twelve people have been there so far moon, all white men from the USA. With Artemis 2 Next year, a woman will leave the immediate vicinity of our home planet for the first time – and will also circumnavigate Earth’s satellite. Overall, it will be a pretty diverse group that is expected to form by the end of 2024. Cape Caneveral (Florida) will start. The flight will take ten days.
On Monday, the NASA the crew of four for the first time. Fifteen astronauts had already been pre-selected, nine women and six men, some of Mexican or Asian origin. The first trip to the moon since Apollo 17 Either way, 1972 will be more multicultural than ever. Although the President of the United States donald trump the budget was fixed, but the decision on the crew was not made until later. Indeed, the moon landing should be the highlight of Trump’s second term.
your successor Joe Biden promised more funding but wanted strong female participation. New spacesuits have been developed for €214 million, which will also be available in smaller sizes for women.
The crew of Artemis 2
Either way, the 44-year-old will be the first woman Christine Koch orbit the moon. She is from Michigan and has spent 328 days on the International Space Station ISS. She has been an astronaut since 2013 and is the longest-serving woman in space.
She is accompanied by Canadian Jeremy Hansen (47) and the African American Victor Glover. The 46-year-old test pilot has flown more than 40 different types of aircraft. Served as commander Reid Wiseman. The 47-year-old has been Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA since December 2020.
The main task of the quartet is to test the equipment. The Artemis 1 mission, for example, had to survive a radio failure of more than half an hour, and there were also problems with the capsule’s heat shield when it returned to Earth.
Race to the Moon and Mars
At heart, though, it’s mostly a race with China. Both great powers want to build permanent lunar stations. Presumably, both countries will conduct manned landings around the year 2028. Both the US and China want to land in the South Pole region because it is suspected that there are vital water resources there.
NASA also likes to sell the Artemis missions as a test run for a trip to space. Mars. Just a few days ago – once again – an expedition to the neighboring red planet was announced. In fact, this would have nothing to do with Artemis, nor used for it. SLS rocketnor the Orion-The capsules are ready for Mars.
In addition, there are huge costs of around 60 to 100 billion euros and many unresolved technical problems. A good window of time for a comparatively short and cheap trip to Mars is theoretically available in at least 2048. So China would also like to dare to fly to Mars.
Top-informed anytime and anywhere
Unrestricted and secure access to all KURIER digital content: Plus content, e-papers, online magazines and much more. Test the KURIER digital signature now.