Cape Canaveral, Florida – NASA Apollo moon shots It’s a tough act to follow, even after all this time.
like Four astronauts Prepare to launch on the first human mission to the moon in more than half a century, comparisons between Apollo and… NASA’s new Artemis program There is no escape from it.
The world’s first lunar visitors orbited the Moon aboard Apollo 8 Staff of Artemis II You’ll play it safe and spin around the moon in an out and back slingshot.
Another key difference: Artemis reflects more of the community, as a woman, a person of color, and a Canadian go further.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch, part of the Artemis 2 crew, said that while Artemis is based on and pays homage to Apollo, “there’s no way we can be the same mission or hope to be.”
Here’s the lowdown on Apollo vs. Artemis Twin sister of Apollo In Greek mythology, NASA targets the first six days of April for liftoff.
It took NASA just eight years to go from sending the first astronaut into space to sending Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon in 1969, beating President John F. Kennedy’s deadline of the end of the decade.
“The Apollo program continues to absolutely blow my mind,” said Jeremy Hansen, CSA’s Artemis 2 astronaut.
Artemis has progressed much more slowly, after decades of back and forth between the Moon and Mars as the next big destination. NASA’s new moon rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, has soared just once on a test flight without anyone on board in more than three years.
This plodding approach is why new NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman overhauled the Artemis program in February. Keen to emulate Apollo, he added a mission between the upcoming Artemis II mission and the now-converted lunar landing of Artemis IV in 2028.
During next year’s revamped Artemis 3 mission, astronauts will stay closer to home in much the same way Apollo 9 did in 1969. Instead of attempting to land on the moon as originally envisioned, they will practice docking with their Orion capsule in Earth orbit using one or both of the lunar landers under development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Rival companies are accelerating work on their landers in an attempt to be first.
The Soviets were America’s fierce rivals during the Apollo mission, but their moon rockets kept exploding on liftoff and they eventually surrendered. Now the Chinese are the competitors.
China has already landed a robotic spacecraft on the far side of the moon – the only country to have achieved this – and is striving to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole by 2030.
NASA aims to reach the same polar region, where shadowy craters are thought to contain vast amounts of ice that could provide drinking water and rocket fuel. Like his predecessor Bill Nelson, Isaacman is determined to beat China to the finish line and win the second Space Race.
The Apollo Saturn 5 rockets were 363 feet (110 meters) tall, powered by five first-stage engines. The Artemis SLS rocket reaches an altitude of 322 feet (98 meters) but has more thrust thanks to its four main engines and two belt boosters.
All but one of the Saturn V rockets lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A, which is now leased by SpaceX. NASA will use adjacent pad 39-B for all SLS missions. While the Saturn V rocket had been launched twice before carrying astronauts, the SLS system had flown only once. Hydrogen fuel leaks delayed the SLS’s 2022 debut and occurred again during countdown testing in February, grounding Artemis II. Then the helium problem resurfaced, causing further delays. NASA is now targeting an April launch.
Launch control remains in the same place. There was one woman in the crowded firing room for Apollo 11’s liftoff. And now it’s led by a woman: Artemis’ launch director, Charlie Blackwell Thompson.
Apollo 8 still ranks as the most daring space mission ever. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first humans to go to the Moon in 1968. Borman, the leader, insisted on as few lunar orbits as possible given the risks. He and his bosses settled on 10 orbits as a warm-up for the 1969 moonwalk by Armstrong and Aldrin.
NASA had long ago decided not to orbit the Moon on the first appearance of the Artemis crew, considering it too dangerous. The main goal is to test the Orion capsule’s life support equipment and fly for the first time.
One of the big similarities between Apollo 8 and Artemis II is the turbulent times surrounding them. “If we can contribute a little bit of hope for humanity, that’s a huge thing,” said NASA’s Artemis 2 pilot Victor Glover.
The Artemis astronauts will orbit Earth for a day to make sure everything is working properly before igniting the main engine and heading to the Moon. It will take three to four days for the capsule to reach the moon and continue for about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) after that, exceeding the distance record set by the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in the 1970s.
Like Apollo 13, Artemis 2 will take advantage of the Moon and Earth’s gravity, making a figure eight after orbiting the Moon to return home in what is known as a free return trajectory that requires little, if any, fuel. It brought the three Apollo 13 astronauts back safely even though they had to abandon their moon landing.
The Artemis astronauts will parachute into the Pacific Ocean after their mission just as the Apollo crews did.
For Apollo, the bulky white spacesuits served double duty. What the astronauts wore on launch and return was the same as for the moonwalk since there was not enough storage space for different clothing.
Artemis’ Orion capsules are larger, designed to hold four astronauts instead of three as well as two sets of spacesuits. NASA created new spacesuits for use inside the capsule, while turning to private companies for clothing for walking on the moon.
Commander Reed Wiseman and his crew will wear specially equipped orange jumpsuits for launch and return. They will also use it in case of low blood pressure or some other emergency. They can survive for up to six days wearing the suits, inserting a straw into the helmet to sip water or a protein shake and relying on underwear bags and bladders as a compact toilet.
Houston-based Axiom Space is designing the white moonwalk suits that will accompany future Artemis crews.
Apollo was about beating the Russians to the moon and planting the American flag. Astronauts landed six times from 1969 to 1972, with the longest stay on the surface lasting 75 hours. Five of the 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon are still alive.
For the first Artemis landing on the moon, a pair of astronauts could spend nearly a week there. It’s a complicated plan compared to Apollo.
The Artemis lunar astronauts will be launched to the Moon aboard Orion, and once in lunar orbit, they will transfer to SpaceX’s Starship or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon spacecraft, whichever is ready first. They will descend to the surface and, after a few days, return to orbit to rendezvous with their Orion capsule. Orion will be the astronauts’ journey home.
NASA is striving to achieve sustainable life on the Moon, followed by Mars, although “the first day of the Moon base will not look like this glass-enclosed dome city,” Isaacman said. Last week, he unveiled a plan of the Moon base showing habitats, rovers, drones, power plants and more. NASA plans to invest $20 billion over the next seven years.
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