NASA Orion spacecraft ready for maiden flight to the moon

American company Lockheed martin fully completed the assembly and the first stage of testing the spacecraft Orion Artemis I and just the other day made the transfer of the ship to the team NASA Exploration Ground Systems (EGS).

So the group EGS, which is based at Kennedy Space Center, will conduct further tests of the spacecraft and complete final preparations for the first mission to the moon, which is scheduled for late 2021.

Spaceship ready to fly to the moon

Orion is a brand new research-grade spacecraft NASA, which is designed to deliver astronauts into deep space, as well as the moon and Mars.

By the company Lockheed martin (this is the general contractor of NASA) and personally the engineers of the company implemented the crew module and the launch interruption system, but the European Space Agency provided for the spacecraft Orion European service module.

Artemis new mission

The Artemis I mission involves a series of launches of Orion spacecraft that will be launched into space by NASA Space Launch System rockets. At the same time, during its first flight within three weeks, Orion must make an exit into the moon's orbit, fly around it and return back, and all this is completely automatic without a crew.

This maiden flight is extremely important as it will enable a full range of space inspections to be carried out. ship, launch vehicle and all ground services and determine readiness for future missions already with a crew on board. And an automatic flyby of the Orion spacecraft around the Moon is scheduled for the end of this (2021) year.

Artemis crewed flights on Orion ships just around the corner

The next mission, codenamed Artemis II, will already take place with astronauts on board. Their task will be to fly around the moon and return. For this purpose, the crew modules and the service module adapter are already being assembled at Kennedy, and the embedded computers will be tested in the summer of 2021.

According to the plan, the Artemis III mission will already ensure the landing of another man and the first woman on the moon to set foot on the surface of our satellite. The ship for this Orion mission is already under construction.

In general, NASA ordered three Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III-V missions with the ability to fulfill another contract for additional three devices for Artemis VI-VIII, as well as options for 12 missions of such a plan are being worked out.

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