NASA Moon Mission

NASA on Monday named the four astronauts who will fly to the moon by the end of next year, including one woman and three men. The three Americans and one Canadian were introduced during a ceremony in Houston, home to the nation's astronauts as well as Mission Control. This is humanity's crew, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The four astronauts will be the first to fly NASA's Orion capsule, launching atop a Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than late 2024. They will not land or even go into lunar orbit, but rather fly around the moon and head straight back to Earth, a prelude to a lunar landing by two others a year later. The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, will be joined by Victor Glover, an African American naval aviator; Christina Koch, who holds the world record for the longest spaceflight by a woman; and Canada's Jeremy Hansen. All are space veterans except Hansen. This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate and it's so much more than t

Amit Kshatriya, a decorated Indian-American software and robotics engineer was appointed as the first head of NASA's newly-established Moon to Mars Programme that will help the agency ensure a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity's next giant leap to the Red Planet. Kshatriya will serve as NASA's first head of the office, with immediate effect, the agency announced on Thursday. The new office aims to carry out the agency's human exploration activities on the Moon and Mars for the benefit of humanity, a NASA press release said. The golden age of exploration is happening right now, and this new office will help ensure that NASA successfully establishes a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity's next giant leap to the Red Planet," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The Moon to Mars Programme Office will help prepare NASA to carry out our bold missions to the Moon and land the first humans on Mars, Nelson explained. The new office resides within t

The proposal asks $8.1 billion for the Artemis programme, which aims to send astronauts to Mars, through NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach

NASA's Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon Sunday, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight that should clear the way for astronauts on the next lunar flyby. The incoming capsule hit the atmosphere at Mach 32, or 32 times the speed of sound, and endured reentry temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) before splashing down west of Mexico's Baja California near Guadalupe Island. A Navy ship quickly moved in to recover the spacecraft and its silent occupants three test dummies rigged with vibration sensors and radiation monitors. NASA needed a successful splashdown to stay on track for the next Orion flight around the moon, currently targeted for 2024. Four astronauts will make the trip. That will be followed by a two-person lunar landing as early as 2025. Astronauts last landed on the moon 50 years ago Sunday. After touching down on Dec. 11, 1972, Apollo 17's Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent three da

NASA's Orion capsule and its test dummies swooped one last time around the moon Monday, flying over a couple Apollo landing sites before heading home. Orion will aim for a Pacific splashdown Sunday off San Diego, setting the stage for astronauts on the next flight in a couple years. The capsule passed within 130 kilometres of the far side of the moon, using the lunar gravity as a slingshot for the 3,80,000-kilometre ride back to Earth. It spent a week in a wide, sweeping lunar orbit. Once emerging from behind the moon and regaining communication with flight controllers in Houston, Orion beamed back photos of a close-up moon and a crescent Earth Earthrise in the distance. Orion now has its sights set on home," said Mission Control commentator Sandra Jones. The capsule also passed over the landing sites of Apollo 12 and 14. But at 1,900 kilometres up, it was too high to make out the descent stages of the lunar landers or anything else left behind by astronauts more than a half-cen

NASA's Orion spacecraft has successfully performed its first Moon flyby as part of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, to pass within 130 kms of the lunar surface

A space capsule hurtled toward the moon on Wednesday for the first time in 50 years, following a thunderous launch of NASA's mightiest rocket in a dress rehearsal for astronaut flights. No one was on board this debut flight, just three test dummies. The capsule is headed for a wide orbit around the moon and then a return to Earth with a Pacific splashdown in about three weeks. After years of delays and billions in cost overruns, the Space Launch System rocket roared skyward, rising from Kennedy Space Center on 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) of thrust and hitting 100 mph (160 kph) within seconds. The Orion capsule was perched on top and, less than two hours into the flight, busted out of Earth's orbit toward the moon. It was pretty overwhelming, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. We're going out to explore the heavens, and this is the next step." The moonshot follows nearly three months of vexing fuel leaks that kept the rocket bouncing between its hangar and the pad. .

NASA began fuelling its new moon rocket on Tuesday for a middle-of-the-night launch, its third try to put an empty capsule around the moon for the first time in 50 years. Fuel leaks plagued the first two attempts in late summer, then a pair of hurricanes caused more delays. While engineers never pinpointed the cause of the escaping hydrogen, they altered the fuelling process to minimise leakage and were confident that all the plumbing in the 322-foot (98-metre) rocket would remain tight and intact. NASA added an hour to the operation to account for the slower fill-up, vital for reducing pressure on the fuel lines and keeping the seals in place. It seemed to work, with no major leakages reported during the early stages. "So far, everything is going very smoothly," said assistant launch director Jeremy Graeber about an hour into fuelling. The rocket was being gassed up with nearly one million gallons (3.7 million litres) of super-cold hydrogen and oxygen. After more than four hours,

NASA's moon rocket needs only minor repairs after enduring a hurricane at the pad and is on track for its first test flight next week, a top official said on Friday. Right now, there's nothing preventing us" from attempting a launch on Wednesday, said NASA's Jim Free, an associate administrator. The wind never exceeded the rocket's design limits as Hurricane Nicole swept through Kennedy Space Centre on Thursday, according to Free. But he acknowledged if the launch team had known in advance that a hurricane was going to hit, they likely would have kept the rocket indoors. The rocket was moved out to the pad late last week for its USD 4.1 billion demo mission. Gusts reached 100 mph (160 kph) atop the launch tower, but were not nearly as strong farther down at the rocket. Computer models indicate there should be no strength or fatigue issues from the storm, even deep inside the rocket, Free noted. NASA had been aiming for an early Monday launch, but put it on hold for two days becau

NASA was monitoring Nicole and has decided to re-target a launch for the Artemis I mission for November 16

After several failed attempts, the US space agency is hopeful that on November 14, it will be able to finally launch the Artemis I Moon mission into space

The US space agency has now set the next launch attempt of the Artemis I Moon mission for November 14, after facing two failed attempts due to liquid hydrogen gas leak in one of the engines.

NASA is skipping next week's launch attempt of its new moon rocket because of a tropical storm that's expected to become a major hurricane. It's the third delay in the past month for the lunar-orbiting test flight featuring mannequins but no astronauts, a follow-up to NASA's Apollo moon-landing programme of a half-century ago. Hydrogen fuel leaks and other technical issues caused the previous scrubs. Currently churning in the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ian is expected to become a hurricane by Monday and slam into Florida's Gulf coast by Thursday. The entire state, however, is in the cone showing the probable path of the storm's center including NASA's Kennedy Space Centre. Given the forecast uncertainties, NASA decided Saturday to forgo Tuesday's planned launch attempt and instead prepare the 322-foot (98-metre) rocket for a possible return to its hangar. Managers will decide Sunday whether to haul it off the launch pad. If the rocket remains at the pad, NASA could try for an Oct

The US space agency has once again readied its Artemis I moon mission and met all objectives, including the key hydrogen leak threat which has resulted in two failure attempts.

NASA's new moon rocket sprouted more fuel leaks Wednesday in a test ahead of a possible launch attempt next week, but engineers managed to get them down to acceptable levels. There was no immediate word on whether NASA would try for a liftoff Tuesday given the sporadic nature of the hydrogen leaks, which have bedeviled the launch team for months. "Leaving a lot of folks scratching their heads on this one," said Launch Control's Derrol Nail. The daylong demo had barely begun when hazardous hydrogen fuel began escaping at the same place and same time as before, despite new seals and other repairs. Engineers halted the flow and warmed the lines in hopes of plugging the leak, and proceeded with the test. But the leak persisted before dropping to acceptable levels. Hours later, another leak cropped up elsewhere. Nail said all test objectives were met. But managers need to review the results before determining whether the 98-metre rocket is ready for its first test flight, a lunar-orbiti

NASA had to scrub two launch attempts as the rocket experienced technical glitches, including a fuel leak

But there are still several things that could stand in the way of getting the Artemis I mission off the ground, any of which could push the launch date back further

As NASA scrubbed the Artemis 1 uncrewed mission to the Moon once again, Elon Musk on Sunday came up with a suggestion for the ailing mission that will finally land astronauts on the lunar surface

The US space agency has decided not to attempt the launch of the Artemis I Moon mission in early September as the teams were reviewing options after two failed attempts

NASA's new moon rocket sprang another hazardous leak Saturday, as the launch team began fuelling it for liftoff on a test flight that must go well before astronauts climb aboard. For the second time this week, the launch team began loading nearly 1 million gallons of fuel into the 322-foot rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA. Monday's attempt was halted by a bad engine sensor and leaking fuel. As the sun rose, an over-pressure alarm sounded and the tanking operation was briefly halted, but no damage occurred and the effort resumed, NASA's Launch Control reported. But minutes later, hydrogen fuel began leaking from the engine section at the bottom of the rocket. NASA halted the operation, while engineers scrambled to plug what was believed to be a gap around a seal. The countdown clocks continued ticking toward an afternoon liftoff; NASA had two hours Saturday to get the rocket off. NASA wants to send the crew capsule atop the rocket around the moon, pushing it to the li