Artemis Programme: NASA to land first person of colour on the moon

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration programme will land the first person of colour on the moon as a part of its Artemis Programme. In addition, NASA will also land first woman on the moon under the programme.

Key Highlights

NASA had finalised around 18 astronauts under its Artemis Programme. It included the Indian American Raja Chari. However, NASA is yet to announce the first two crew members of the Artemis programme. NASA has now planned to include a person of colour in the crew. With this, NASA will be landing the first person of colour on the moon under the programme. Currently, NASA faces huge funding problems. This has been one of the major obstacles in implementing the mission. NASA has requested 24.7 billion USD of funding for 2022.

Artemis Programme

• Artemis Programme is an international human space flight programme funded by the US Government.
• The main objective of the programme is to launch a manned mission to the south pole region of the moon by 2024.
• The programme is predominantly carried out by NASA. The other international partners in the programme are JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Italian Space Agency, UK Space Agency, UAE space Agency, Brazilian Space Agency, Australian Space Agency, State Space Agency of Ukraine, Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency.
• The total cost of the programme is estimated to be 35 billion USD.
• The programme is to be implemented in three parts. They are as follows:
  • Artemis I: To be launched in 2021 and is an uncrewed flight. It will test the Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft.
  • Artemis II: It is the first crewed flight test and is targeted to be launched in 2023.
  • Artemis III: It will land astronauts on the south pole of moon in 2024.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2021