Daily Mail by Sam Tonkin 10/20/2021
NASA takes one small step towards returning to the moon: $12.2 BILLION Orion spaceship is ready to be attached to a rocket that could send it to our lunar satellite later this year
• NASA's Orion spaceship is ready to be attached to rocket ahead of moon mission
• The $12.2 billion craft will take the first woman and next man to our lunar satellite
• Orion will fly around the moon without astronauts later this year or in early 2022
• If Artemis-1 is successful, astronauts will crew 2 and land on moon via Artemis-3
• Artemis programme, named after Apollo's sister, aims to return to moon by 2024
NASA's $12.2 billion Orion spaceship is ready to be attached to a rocket that could send it to our lunar satellite later this year or in early 2022.
For its upcoming flight, Orion will fly around the moon without astronauts as part of a plan to return humans to the lunar surface later this decade.
The spacecraft was moved between buildings at Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Monday, and is now due to be lifted on to the most powerful rocket in the world, the Space Launch System (SLS).
Orion is part of the Artemis programme — named after the twin sister of Apollo — which aims to create a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028.
The first mission, called Artemis-1, will fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown, as it tests the SLS and Orion before astronauts are allowed to crew Artemis-2 for a loop around the moon at the end of 2023.
It is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars.
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10111197/NASAs-12-2-billion-Orion-spaceship-ready-attached-rocket.html
