NASA Plans Next Visit To Moon

With the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, NASA has stated that it has doubled down its own giant leap with the Artemis programme. It would take the first woman and the next man to the surface of the moon. Artemis has been named after the twin sister of Apollo. The twin sister of Apollo is the Goddess of the Moon and the hunt. The astronauts shall explore those areas of the Moon that have not been visited previously. They will focus on unlocking mysteries of the Universe and will conduct tests upon the technology that shall extend the bounds of humanity too far into the solar system. The astronauts have informed that they shall pursue water, ice and other natural resources that will resultantly enable deep space travel. After the moon, they will next target Mars. The approximate cost of the Apollo programme that was conducted by US in 1961 and ended in 1972 was about $25 billion. The climax of that programme came up almost 50 years ago when two astronauts landed on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, which costed nearly $6 billion at the time, equal to $30 billion in the present day. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stated that the major point of differentiation between the Apollo programme and the "Artemis” is that the former one came to an end with brief stays on the Moon whereas on the other hand, the latter shall explore a permanent human presence there. This plan shall required requirement to be done from private companies and international partners. The programme consists of firstly, an unmanned mission around Moon that shall take place in the year 2020, and on the other hand, a manned mission that will orbit the Moon some two years later. The next lunar mission in Space is expected to be delivered by Space Launch System, which is a rocket that is being developed by NASA and Boeing that will be the largest ever built once the complete assembly has been done. The rocket shall send into the orbit a new spacecraft called Orion. The lead contractor of Orion is Lockheed Martin. In accordance with NASA plans, the five missions between the years 2022 and 2024 shall be operated by private companies.

By: Madhuchanda Saxena
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