アルテミス3の実施は2026年に変更

NASA(アメリカ航空宇宙局)は月周回の有人ミッションとなるアルテミス2と南極付近に宇宙飛行士を着陸させるアルテミス3の実施スケジュールを見直しました。

新しい計画ではアルテミス2は2025年9月、アルテミス3を2026年9月に実施するとしています。それぞれ2024年、2025年の実施を予定していました。月極軌道上に建設する月周回有人拠点「ゲートウエイ」に宇宙飛行士を送り込むアルテミス4は2028年の予定です。

NASA Shares Progress Toward Early Artemis Moon Missions with Crewのタイトルで2024年1月9日に2024 NASA News Releasesにup(https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-shares-progress-toward-early-artemis-moon-missions-with-crew/)しました。以下がその内容です。

NASA announced Tuesday updates to its Artemis campaign that will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all. To safely carry out these missions, agency leaders are adjusting the schedules for Artemis II and Artemis III to allow teams to work through challenges associated with first-time developments, operations, and integration.

NASA will now target September 2025 for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, and September 2026 for Artemis III, which is planned to land the first astronauts near the lunar South Pole. Artemis IV, the first mission to the Gateway lunar space station, remains on track for 2028.

Artemis II crew members (from left) CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman walk out of Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to the Artemis crew transportation vehicles prior to traveling to Launch Pad 39B as part of an integrated ground systems test at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 20, to test the crew timeline for launch day.
(NASA)