#Artemis program

[gemini-enthusiast]

ARTEMIS II PATCH REVEAL!!!!!!!!

[lonestarflight]

"NASA Stennis Teams Install New Production RS-25 Engine for Upcoming Hot Fire

NASA marked a key milestone Feb. 18 with installation of RS-25 engine No. E20001, the first new production engine to help power the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on future Artemis missions to the Moon.

The engine, built by lead SLS engines contractor L3Harris (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne), was installed on the Fred Haise Test Stand in preparation for acceptance testing next month. It represents the first of 24 new flight engines being built for SLS flights, beginning with Artemis V.

In this image, teams at NASA Stennis deliver, lift, and install the first new production RS-25 engine on the Fred Haise Test Stand on Feb. 18."

Credit: NASA/Danny Nowlin

Date: February 18, 2025

Posted on Flickr by "NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center": link

[spaceexp]

The three habitable modules currently being developed for the Artemis program's lunar surface outpost

(by AresVIX/reddit)

[tolbachik-art]

Commission - This Grand Nest

My first commission, courtesy of @corvidist's patronage! Thank you so much again!

If you're interested in getting a piece like this for yourself, click here!

As always, image ID will be in the alt text and the reblogs. :)

[the-final-sif]

With the artemis program moving towards a lunar landing in 2026 and an established lunar gateway by 2031 and then yearly moon landings after 2031, it makes me wonder where conspiracy theories about us not landing on the moon go. Like, will those people still believe we aren't landing on the moon when it's something we do every year? Or will there be some subset of the population that believes the original moon landing was fake but the new ones are real? Should be fun to watch how that evolves.

[jackswigert]

went to a talk by jeremy hansen, the canadian astronaut that will be on artemis II, and i think his mission patch might be one of my new favourites

[astronauticalaspirations]

Johnson Space Center uploaded some new renders of Lunar Gateway to their Flickr last week. My sources on the inside inform me these are fairly up-to-date design iterations. Module ID in the alt-text.

[thebritbeard]

Blue Ghost Moon Landing - 4 Incredible Angles of Firefly's Lunar Touchdown

I was very excited during the BlueGhost Mission,  It was amazing!  Here is some background on Blue Ghost ands the mission: 

Blue Ghost Mission 1: Firefly’s Historic Lunar Landing

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, dubbed "Ghost Riders in the Sky," marked the first fully successful commercial soft landing on the Moon. Launched on January 15, 2025, and landing on March 2, 2025, it delivered 10 NASA payloads to Mare Crisium under the CLPS program. Here’s the scoop!

Mission Highlights

Launch: Jan 15, 2025, via SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center.

Landing: Mar 2, 2025, at Mons Latreille, Mare Crisium.

Duration: ~60 days, with 14+ days of surface ops, surviving 5 hours into lunar night.

Data: Transmitted 119 GB, including 51 GB of science data.

The Lander

Named after the Phausis reticulata firefly, Blue Ghost is a 2m-tall, 3.5m-wide lander with:

Carbon composite structure for lightweight durability.

Three solar panels (400W) and robust X/S-band antennas for HD video.

1,000N main engine + eight 200N thrusters for precise landing.

Payloads

Carried 10 NASA payloads (94 kg), including:

RAC: Studied regolith stickiness.

NGLR: Enabled precise Earth-Moon distance measurements.

Lunar PlanetVac: Collected and sorted lunar soil.

LISTER: Drilled 3ft into the subsurface (hit hard rock).

SCALPSS 1.1: Captured 3D plume-surface imagery.

Eight payloads met objectives by Mar 6, 2025, supporting Artemis goals.

Cool Moments

Lunar Sunset: HD imagery of dust levitation on Mar 16, 2025.

Solar Eclipse: Captured a “diamond ring” effect on Mar 13-14, 2025.

First Images: Sent lunar surface pics 40 mins after landing.

Why It Matters

Blue Ghost’s upright landing and extended ops set a new bar for commercial lunar missions, paving the way for Artemis and future exploration. Firefly plans more missions in 2026 and 2028.

Check out more at Firefly Aerospace or NASA. Pics and videos on Firefly’s Flickr!

[the-technicolor-whiscash]

Someone pointed out that the Earth image on the Artemis II patch is a rendering of the Apollo 8 earthrise pictures and I'm feeling so normal about that. I'm so normal.

[dead-generations]

lunar gateway is such a shitshow. we are still pretending the UAE is going to build the gateway docking port? lmao. its been 3 years since russia got kicked off that job (no points for guessing why) and the UAE only just last month awarded the contract... to Thales Alenia Space. UAE are contributing what exactly?

So TSA has 2(!) years to build and launch possibly the most mission critical piece of gateway hardware, because without it there is no american moon landing. At least they have a lot of experience with building ISS modules but jesus christ.

[gemini-enthusiast]

On Tuesday, as part of the @nasa social experience, we got up close and personal with the crawler transporters and got to speak to some of the folks who work on the crawler. According to them, it takes two years to get your license to drive it - even astronauts, who are qualified to fly spaceships, aren't allowed to drive the crawler without a license. Makes sense, given that they're the largest self-propelled land vehicles in the world!

CT-2, shown here, will be used to carry NASA's SLS rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launchpad in support of the Artemis program. Both CT-2 and its partner crawler CT-1 have long carried rockets from the VAB to the pad, first constructed for the Apollo program before then being used throughout the Shuttle program. CT-1 has seen better days, and is now being used primarily for parts for CT-2.

While much of the hardware is original, several things have been updated over time, mainly the internal computer system. When you're carrying something weighing millions of pounds that has catastrophic consequences if you tip over, stability is paramount. The computer within the crawler controls a massive hydraulic system that keeps the top deck, which is the size of a baseball infield, so flat that if you placed a golf ball atop it, it wouldn't roll around. Just as much of a marvel of engineering as the rockets are!

If you're curious, while the drivers have seen it reach speeds of over one mile per hour, it really doesn't like doing that. They say it averages about 0.8mph.

[lonestarflight]

"Technicians with Lockheed Martin prepare the Artemis II Orion spacecraft for the installation of three spacecraft adapter jettison fairings inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday. The fairings encapsulate the service module and protect the solar array wings, shielding them from the heat, wind, and acoustics of launch and ascent, plus help redistribute the load between Orion and the massive thrust of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket during liftoff and ascent. Once the spacecraft is above the atmosphere, the three fairing panels will separate from the service module reducing the mass of the spacecraft. "

Photo Credit: NASA/Allison Tankersley

Date: March 11, 2025

NASA ID: KSC-20250310-PH-APT01_0002

[afragmentcastadrift]

Nasa drops plan to land first woman and first person of color on the moon | US news | The Guardian

[titanicnerd-blog]

Those who have travelled to the moon:

Neil Armstrong

Edwin Aldrin Jr.

Michael Collins

Pete Conrad

Dick Gordon

Alan Bean

Jim Lovell

John Swigert

Fred Haise

Alan Shepherd

Stuart Roosa

Edgar Mitchell

Dave Scott

Al Worden

Jim Irwin

John Young

Ken Mattingly

Charlie Duke

Gene Cernan

Ron Evans

Jack Schmitt

Soon, there will be more names on this list: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, Jeremy Hansen

[nikproxima]

So I wrote about the GAO. Notably, how SpaceX, Axiom and NASA are working towards landing humans on the moon as part of the Artemis III mission. However, the GAO identified a number of risks, notably the Starship Human Landing System and Axiom's Suits as the primary ones...

Read more here, if you'd like.