Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

NASA’s next moon astronauts are guaranteed an awesome view

Trevor Mogg
By

The next astronauts heading to the moon are guaranteed breathtaking views as they approach the lunar surface in the crew module, NASA said this week.

The space agency’s Kathy Lueders has tweeted a photo (below) of a new window panel for the front of the Orion spacecraft that’s set to transport astronauts to the moon in four years’ time for the first lunar landing since 1972.

Recommended Videos

Lueder’s photo shows a cone panel with openings for large windows that will enable the stunning view. The spacecraft has been designed by Orion’s lead contractor, Lockheed Martin, with the panels manufactured by AMRO Fabricating Corp. of South El Monte, California. The completed panel is now headed for NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, Louisiana, where engineers will weld it and other panels as part of Orion’s pressure vessel.

Related

“It’s truly exciting to have the first piece of the Artemis III Orion spacecraft completed at AMRO that will enable American astronauts to build a sustainable presence on the lunar surface,” said acting Orion program manager Howard Hu.

#Artemis III astronauts will get an awesome view on approach to the Moon thanks to a newly completed window panel for the @NASA_Orion crew module. See the manufacturing process and hear about Orion progress: https://t.co/DPnm5jdZvq pic.twitter.com/4iDxCm5zw8

— Kathy Lueders (@KathyLueders) August 19, 2020

Currently scheduled for October 2024, the Artemis III mission will be the third flight of NASA’s Orion crew capsule following two test missions. The first, Artemis I, will perform an uncrewed fly-by of the moon in 2021. Artemis II, set for 2023, will mark the first crewed test, and will also involve Orion passing the moon without landing.

How We Are Going to the Moon - 4K

NASA has been hiring new astronauts for further Artemis missions throughout the 2020s and is currently operating various training programs to perfect the various scientific techniques that will enable the astronauts to effectively explore the lunar surface.

NASA says that human exploration of the moon via the Artemis program “offers a unique opportunity to test, refine, and perfect many of the technologies and complex operations that will be needed to land humans on Mars, perform their work on the surface, and safely return them to Earth.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
NASA photo shows off engines that will power next crewed lunar mission
Four RS-25 engines attached to the core stage of NASA's SLS moon rocket.

NASA has shared an awesome shot (above) showing the four engines that will power the first crewed mission to the moon in five decades.

The four RS-25 engines were recently attached to the core booster of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will propel the four astronauts toward the moon in the Artemis II mission, currently scheduled for November next year.

Read more
It’s one giant leap for fashion as Prada spacesuits head to the moon
An illustration showing astronauts on the moon.

When NASA’s two Artemis astronauts step onto the lunar surface in the next few years, the world will be watching. The highly anticipated mission will mark the first crewed landing in more than five decades and will see the first woman and first person of color reaching the lunar surface.

And so with all that attention, the astronauts will want to be looking their absolute best.

Read more
NASA’s Artemis moon astronauts suit up for mission practice run
NASA's crew for the Artemis II lunar mission.

The four Artemis II astronauts who will embark on a flyby of the moon in November next year successfully conducted a pre-launch practice run on Wednesday.

In line with launch day procedures, NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, started the day by waking up inside the crew quarters at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Read more