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23//9/25
Visiting the Moon...again?!
Could we actually be close to visiting the Moon again? NASA have been getting ready to try and send astronauts to the Moon once again. It was thought next April would be the date of the next Artemis mission, but today to was announced that actually they might be ready as early as February 2026!
The first Artemis mission was in November 2022, when an unmanned mission flew around the Moon and then flew back to Earth. The mission lasted 25 days. This was to test the Space Launch System (SLS Rocket) and the Orion crew capsule, which is the part that actually goes to the Moon.
On the next mission NASA is planning on repeating that journey, but this time sending four astronauts in the spacecraft to the Moon. It will take ten days and involve a journey of 5,000 miles, taking off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida America, and then returning to Earth with a splash down in the ocean near to California on America’s west coast. While they won’t land on the Moon, they will get incredibly close. It would be the first time in over 50 years that humans had been that close to the Moon.
If this mission is successful NASA then hopes to launch its third Artemis mission no earlier than the middle of 2027. The plan then would be for the astronauts on that mission to land on the Moon. Although SpaceX are part of this mission, and they have been having problems with explosions and their Starship rocket is not thought to be anywhere near ready.
NASA are under pressure to get back to the Moon as China are also trying to get astronauts there too. They have even landed a robotic spacecraft on the Moon and are aiming to get astronauts there by 2030. Just like the last Moon Landings in 1969 there is a space race to get to the Moon.
The crew who will be heading to the Moon hopefully next year.
The Original Moon Landings
In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to successfully land on the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon, while Michael Collins who was also on the mission, staying in the command module, called Columbia.
After this successful mission there were five more landings, Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. Twelve astronauts walked on the surface of the Moon. In 1972 the Apollo program ended. No one has been to the Moon since.
The Apollo 11 Crew, from left to right - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.
Saturn V rocket launching the Apollo 11 Mission up into space.
A photo of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, taken by Neil Armstrong.
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon next to the American flag.
Find out about more about the mission...
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots, Shutterstock and Public Domain Images.