Space: NASA announces takeoff to the moon from August 29

The date is finally close: Artemis 1, the US program’s first mission to return to the Moon, has announced it will launch on August 29. NASA Wednesday. There are two possible alternative dates: September 2 or 5, as set by the space agency. This timely announcement came on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.

More than half a century later, Artemis should mark Americans’ return to this star, including the first woman and first person of color. However, Artemis 1 will not have an astronaut on board. The mission is to test the new giant missile NASASLS, for which this will be its first flight, and the Orion capsule at its summit, where a crew of Artemis 2 will be installed.

Take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once the rocket is propelled, the capsule will go to the moon, where it will put itself into orbit before returning to Earth. The mission, depending on the final launch date among the three announced, could last from 39 to 42 days.

Orion already flew into space for the first time for a test, in 2014, at that time it was launched by a Delta IV rocket. She has completed two rounds on the ground, in particular to test her heat shield. But this time, the capsule will return from a much farther place, and therefore will have to endure more extreme conditions as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere: a speed of nearly 40,000 km / h and a temperature “half the heat of the sun”, confirmed during a press conference Mike Sarafin, responsible for the mission at NASA.

In addition to this first objective, the mission must demonstrate the ship’s ability to operate in deep space and recover after landing in the ocean at the end of the voyage. The Artemis 1 takeoff, originally scheduled for earlier this year, had to be postponed in order to complete a test on the launch pad in June.

Artemis 2 is currently scheduled for 2024. The first mission aboard with astronauts, it will not land on the moon yet, but will simply orbit around it. This honor will go to the crew of Artemis 3, a mission scheduled for 2025 at the earliest, and the last time men went to the moon dates back to Apollo 17, in 1972.