The American space agency (NASA) is currently preparing the Orion spacecraft for the launch scheduled for August 29, which will be launched into space with a gigantic rocket (SLS). The Artemis-1 mission will launch without a crew, so for now only a mannequin has been placed in the cockpit of Orion. NASA calls it “Moonikin Campos” in memory of Arturo Campus, chief engineer of the legendary Apollo mission, wrote the hvg.hu.
“Commander” Moonikin Campos was dressed in NASA’s new orange space suit, now being tested, and strapped into the pilot’s seat. Data recording sensors were placed inside the dummy to measure the acceleration, vibration and radiation levels of the passenger cabin.
Commander Moonikin Campos was installed into @NASA_Orion ahead of the launch of #Artemis I. Named after Arturo Campos, a man who was instrumental to saving the Apollo 13 crew, he will measure vibrations and accelerations that future @NASAArtemis astronauts will experience. pic.twitter.com/jBJNYps1hl
— NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) July 27, 2022
According to NASA’s summary, Artemis-1 will be the first integrated test of the US space agency’s deep space exploration program: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the ground systems of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida will work together. The unmanned flight test of Artemis-1 can provide the basis for the next phase of deep space exploration with human participation.
The goal is to extend human existence to the moon and beyond.
During the flight, the spacecraft takes off on the world’s most powerful rocket and flies farther than any human-built spacecraft has ever flown. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, reaching thousands of miles beyond the Moon during a four- to six-week mission (map of the mission here).
Orion will stay in space longer without docking at a space station than any spacecraft built before, and return home faster and hotter than any of its predecessors.
The landing on the moon is planned in the next phase of the flight series, the Artemis-2 mission: in 2024, four astronauts will travel to our celestial companion on Orion.
Opening image: NASA
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