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After NASA's lunar spacecraft returned to earth 3 months ago as part of the Artemis I mission, the wealth of data from its maiden flight reveals critical hardware issues. These include damage to the mobile launch vehicle or the protective heat shield of the Orion spacecraft.
NASA lunar spacecraft damaged© Nasa
In order for the next launch in the coming year to be successful and for people to be transported into orbit, more detailed testing is now required. "We have to make sure that whatever we do, we understand the risks we're taking," says NASA expert Jim Free.
Landed off the Baja California Peninsula
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NASA launched the Artemis I mission in November 2022. The Orion capsule was over 400,000 kilometers from Earth. She traveled through space for 25.5 days to test different orbits. In December 2022, she finally landed in the Pacific Ocean off the Mexican peninsula of Baja California.
According to NASA, they covered a total of around 2.5 million kilometers.
Artemis II will follow in 2024
The unmanned test flight now paves the way for the lunar voyage of up to 4 astronauts to be launched as part of the Artemis II mission. Not only will Artemis II be the first manned lunar mission since Apollo 17, with Artemis NASA also wants to bring the first woman and the first person of color to the moon.
