Earlier this month, NASA confirmed that the first Artemis mission to use NASA's moon-orbiting Gateway space station will be Artemis IV, scheduled to launch in 2028.
Gateway to the Moon
As of 2023, there are two fully operational space stations in low Earth orbit: NASA's International Space Station (ISS) and China's Tiangong Space Station (TSS). As NASA plans to explore space beyond the reach of the Earth, it developed the Lunar Gateway Program, the first planned extraterrestrial space station.
The Lunar Gateway is the major component of the agency's Artemis mission, a space program that aims to establish a long-term base on the Moon. It will serve as a multi-purpose station that orbits our celestial neighbor. From this outpost, NASA and its international partners can support long-term human presence on the surface of the Moon and launch additional missions for deep space journeys.
As a multinational project, the development of Gateway involves the partner agencies of ISS: NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). While it will serve as a home for astronauts, it is designed to operate autonomously without a crew for up to three years between space missions.
Compared to ISS, the crew size on Gateway will be smaller, with a maximum of only four members for 90 days. In the absence of crew members, the unique position of this space station around the Moon will allow scientific studies to investigate the risks of radiation from the Sun and cosmic rays, providing significant information for future explorations on the Moon and Mars.
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Artemis IV's Bold Attempts
The Artemis program is a lunar exploration project of NASA in collaboration with its five major partner agencies. Its main goal is to reestablish the presence of humans on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
The Artemis IV mission is the fourth planned space mission of the Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon and deliver ESA's International Habitation (I-HAB) module for the Lunar Gateway.
The astronauts of the Artemis IV mission will be the first crew to live and work in the Lunar Gateway during the program's second landing on the Moon. This was confirmed by Gateway mission integration and utilization manager Stephanie Dudley during the International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISSRDC) on August 2.
The launch will take place on a Space Launch System rocket instead of the usual Launchpad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The gigantic Moon rocket will propel four astronauts inside Orion to the Moon, but Artemis IV will be the first space mission to use a new second stage. As part of the second Moon landing for Artemis, two astronauts will leave the Lunar Gateway space station and descend to the Moon to stay on the lunar surface.
Check out more news and information on the Artemis Mission in Science Times.
