NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Sunday that the successful return of the Orion spacecraft after its first drone test mission marked a defining day for the US mission to return to the Moon.
According to the official, all systems worked as planned during the touchdown, including the heat shield and the parachutes. It’s one that marks new technology, a whole new breed of astronauts, a vision for the future that captures the DNA of particularly Americans.
Although he USA does this as an international venture, we are adventurers, we are explorers, we always have a frontier, Nelson said in NASA’s live-stream. The USA also seeks to cooperate on the Artemis program with private companies and other countries.
We don’t do it secretively, we do it openly, and we do it with our friends, and we invite all peoples of the world, except for Russia of course. We do it also with commercial partners.
The unmanned Artemis 1 mission is key step toward NASA’s goal of crewed lunar flights of the Orion spacecraft, with the first of them, Artemis 2, scheduled to launch in 2024.
Artemis 2 is expected to be the first manned lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, which is the most recent time people landed on the Moon.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point Aviation News 2022.
