INNOVATIVE SPACECRAFT MAY ENABLE NEW-AGE LUNAR LANDINGS

摘要

AFTER A NEARLY 50-year hiatus, the United States plans to return to the moon. The goal of the Artemis program is to land the first woman and next man on the surface of the moon by 2024. According to NASA, that will "enable sustainable human exploration of the moon for the first time in history." The name Artemis is derived from Greek mythology. Artemis was Apollo's twin sister and the goddess of the moon. The Artemis program encompasses NASA's overall lunar exploration plans. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will be an unmanned flight test of the space launch system (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. That will be followed by the first flight with crew on Artemis II, and then the Artemis III flight to land astronauts on the moon. NASA plans to use this experience on and around the moon to prepare for its next giant leaphuman exploration of Mars.