NASA is blasting back into the airwaves after unveiling its new mission for the moon and beyond. NASA’s plan, named the Artemis Program, is aiming to land on the moon by 2024 and – wait for it — Mars by the mid-2030s. The program sets to accomplish a myriad of historical feats. Two of which include landing the first woman on the moon, and the first human on the red planet – that is unless Elon and his crew get there first. [Featured photo: @nasa]
Getting Up To Speed
On January 10th of this year, NASA honored the Artemis class of 13 astronauts at their graduation ceremony. Over the course of two years, the class trained extensively in jet proficiency, robotics, spacewalking (not to be confused with moonwalking), and… Russian? This elite group of astronauts were selected from an original pool of OVER 18,000 APPLICANTS.
Artemis, Goddess Of The Moon
With their objective of landing the first women on the moon in mind, NASA has already achieved history by having the first all-women’s spacewalk. A spacewalk is when a cosmonaut manoeuvres in space outside the ship à la Sandra Bullock in Gravity. In fact, women compose nearly half the class of Artemis astronauts, consisting of decorated US Navy and Marine Corps lieutenants and majors (respectively), aerospace engineers, pilots, and ultra-experienced researchers.
The Bright Side Of The Moon
As the first moon mission of the 21st century, the Artemis Program will discover how to use the moon’s resources to provide for a prolonged, self-sustained, human presence with the purpose of subsequent deeper exploration – this is the simplified version, honestly. In addition, the program will utilize the resources and technology provided by local and commercial companies. Inclusion of these businesses will not only help fund and facilitate their launch, but establish a lunar economy for mining, tourism, and other enterprises such as putting up a Starbucks on the South Lunar Pole (kidding). Finally, this program hopes to determine the future likeliness for human civilization to live on the moon and elsewhere in space. So pack your bags, honey. We’re going to the moon!
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