The Artemis program is part of the US space agency NASA’s plan to put humans back on the moon, ahead of a possible trip to Mars.
Twelve astronauts, all men, visited the Moon during a total of six flights during the 1969–1972 Apollo program. The goal now is to put the first woman and the first non-white person on the moon.
The first launch is scheduled to take place at 08:33 (14:33 Swedish time) on Monday, local time, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Mannequins, equipped with sensors, replace the crew. The craft will enter lunar orbit without landing on the planet.
The next launch is planned for 2024. Artemis 2 will be manned, but even then a lunar landing will not take place.
The third launch will be the first manned lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. For the first time, Nasa will land a spacecraft at the moon’s south pole, where water in the form of ice has been discovered. The launch is expected to take place in 2025 but may be delayed until 2026. The purpose is partly to create a base camp on the moon.
Source: AFP