>Artemis III will no longer land on the Moon; rather Orion will launch on SLS and dock with Starship and/or Blue Moon landers in low-Earth orbit
>Artemis IV is now the first lunar landing mission
Wow, thats a big change. Seems to buy time for the lander and space suit providers while keeping a high(er)cadence for the SLS than if they became the block.
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NASA’s new approach to Artemis reflects a return to the philosophy of the Apollo program. During the late 1960s, the space agency flew a series of preparatory crewed missions before the Apollo 11 lunar landing. These included Apollo 7 (a low-Earth orbit test of the Apollo spacecraft), Apollo 8 (a lunar orbiting mission), Apollo 9 (a low-Earth orbit rendezvous with the lunar lander), and Apollo 10 (a test of the lunar lander descending to the Moon, without touching down).
>With its previous Artemis template, NASA skipped the steps taken by Apollo 7, 9, and 10. In the view of many industry officials, this leap from Artemis II—a crewed lunar flyby of the Moon testing only the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft—to Artemis III and a full-on lunar landing was enormous and risky.
>The new approach will, in NASA parlance, “buy down” some of the risk for a 21st-century lunar landing, including performance and handling of a lunar lander, rendezvous and docking, communications, spacesuit performance, and more.
>It will also increase the challenges before NASA. In particular, the timeline to bring the Orion spacecraft to readiness for a mid-2027 launch will need to be accelerated, and efforts to integrate that vehicle with one or both of the lander providers will need serious attention.
Seems to be presented as a test of equipment and for safety but effectively gives them more time to get a test lander to land on the Moon.
Bandsohard on
Good change. A more incremental approach, like the Saturn/Apollo programs, is the right move.
Maleficent-Stage-280 on
This point
“…NASA is working with SpaceX and Blue Origin to accelerate their development of commercial lunar landers for Artemis IV and beyond…”
in my opinion, is the most realistic and effective. Cooperation with commercial and currently successful companies. They are more interested in development than NASA.))
3 Comments
>Artemis III will no longer land on the Moon; rather Orion will launch on SLS and dock with Starship and/or Blue Moon landers in low-Earth orbit
>Artemis IV is now the first lunar landing mission
Wow, thats a big change. Seems to buy time for the lander and space suit providers while keeping a high(er)cadence for the SLS than if they became the block.
>
NASA’s new approach to Artemis reflects a return to the philosophy of the Apollo program. During the late 1960s, the space agency flew a series of preparatory crewed missions before the Apollo 11 lunar landing. These included Apollo 7 (a low-Earth orbit test of the Apollo spacecraft), Apollo 8 (a lunar orbiting mission), Apollo 9 (a low-Earth orbit rendezvous with the lunar lander), and Apollo 10 (a test of the lunar lander descending to the Moon, without touching down).
>With its previous Artemis template, NASA skipped the steps taken by Apollo 7, 9, and 10. In the view of many industry officials, this leap from Artemis II—a crewed lunar flyby of the Moon testing only the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft—to Artemis III and a full-on lunar landing was enormous and risky.
>The new approach will, in NASA parlance, “buy down” some of the risk for a 21st-century lunar landing, including performance and handling of a lunar lander, rendezvous and docking, communications, spacesuit performance, and more.
>It will also increase the challenges before NASA. In particular, the timeline to bring the Orion spacecraft to readiness for a mid-2027 launch will need to be accelerated, and efforts to integrate that vehicle with one or both of the lander providers will need serious attention.
Seems to be presented as a test of equipment and for safety but effectively gives them more time to get a test lander to land on the Moon.
Good change. A more incremental approach, like the Saturn/Apollo programs, is the right move.
This point
“…NASA is working with SpaceX and Blue Origin to accelerate their development of commercial lunar landers for Artemis IV and beyond…”
in my opinion, is the most realistic and effective. Cooperation with commercial and currently successful companies. They are more interested in development than NASA.))