It’s been nearly 50 years since an American astronaut last walked on the moon. Now the American space agency wants to fulfill this prediction with the “Artemis” program. Between 1969 and 1972, the US was the only country to take a total of 12 astronauts to the moon on the “Apollo” missions. Now, for the first time, a woman and a non-white person are going to travel to the moon. But other space companies and countries also want to participate in this race.
The launch of “Artemis” — named after the goddess of the moon and twin sister of the god Apollo of Greek mythology — has been anything but according to plan so far. The development and construction of the “Space Launch System” rocket and the “Orion” capsule took longer and were more expensive than expected.
A first unmanned ground test of the system had to be aborted several times in March at the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida due to various technical problems.
Musk and Bezos also want to build lunar landers
Previous plans for the US to return to the moon have also been plagued by crises and ultimately failed time and again – due to exploding costs, other priorities and other problems. Even today, much remains to be clarified and tested. The space companies SpaceX of Elon Musk and Blue Origin of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, among others, are currently competing for the contract to build a moon landing device.
China also wants to send people to the moon
Moreover, the US is not alone with its lunar plans. China is also working on placing its own astronauts on the moon. The People’s Republic has landed on the surface of the moon several times with research robots, and has also successfully returned moon rocks to Earth.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
