NASA astronauts have been testing SpaceX’s elevator concept for the Artemis lunar lander, which will take humans to the surface of the Moon as early as 2025.
SpaceX has decided to build the spacecraft that NASA will use for the Artemis program’s long-duration missions to the Moon. The company’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) will carry two astronauts from the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon. It will serve as habitat for the team during their week-long stay on the Moon and then return them to Orion. This will be later in the decade if all goes according to plan.
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Doug “Wheels” Wheelock recently tested a mock-up of the lander’s elevator, which will be used to send the spacecraft’s apparatus and equipment to the lunar surface. The two men carried out the check dressed in spacesuits. to simulate the stress of moving and running in the lunar environment, according to NASA officials.
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“The test allowed the astronauts to interact with a flight-like design of the elevator system, serving as both a functional demonstration of the hardware and providing the chance to receive valuable feedback from a crew perspective,” NASA officials said in the statement.
The elevator style features a large-scale gondola segment with functional mechanical assemblies and equipment interfaces that have been proven. Mann and Wheelock conducted tests on the elevator’s controls and operations as the basket moved along a series of vertical rails. Comments piled up in the area for loading, the deployment of the ramp to get in and out of the elevator basket, and the use of controls, such as door latches.
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NASA’s Artemis 3 project aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo program. The project’s flight is tentatively scheduled for December 2025, but may be delayed until 2027. This is due to the demanding situations of the upcoming SpaceX’s HLS (as Starship has yet to succeed in space despite two launch attempts) and the spacesuits that are being developed through Earea Axiome.
A project with a team of 4 astronauts is expected to fly around the Moon by the end of 2024, at least until now. NASA’s Artemis 2 project will come with 3 NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut. This will be the first project to be probará. la Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket with humans on board. The team-free Artemis 1 project flew the same spacecraft around the Moon in 2022 after a launch on SLS.
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Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News. When not writing or reading about science, Samantha enjoys traveling to new places and taking photos! You can follow her on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13.
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