Artemis 4; Humanity's first outpost on the Moon

NASA's ambitious Artemis space campaign continues to fuel the imaginations of space enthusiasts around the world by promising new and exciting adventures beyond Earth's orbit. The upcoming Artemis 4 mission will follow in the footsteps of Artemis 3 which is scheduled to take the first humans near the Moon's South Pole and will mark the beginning of human occupation in lunar orbit where astronauts will live and work on the first space station. of humanity, Gateway a collaboration between NASA, commercial, national and international partners signals a new era in space exploration.

This outpost will be made up of several modules including the PPI power and propulsion element and the Halo advanced habitation and logistics module. NASA's goal is to turn Gateway into a center for scientific research and preparation for missions on the lunar surface. Preparations for Artemis 4 and consequently for Gateway are in full swing, engineers on the ground are meticulously assembling the components of the outpost; The first two modules, the PPI built by MAXAR and the Halo built by Northrop Gruman, will be connected and launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Once in lunar orbit, Gateway's complex systems will come to life to receive additional elements including the international habitation module I-HAB provided by the European space agency ISA with life support from the Japanese space agency Jaxa. The I-HAB will expand Gateway's capabilities by enabling extended runs and the performance of a variety of scientific activities. At the centerpiece of the Artemis 4 mission is NASA's powerful, updated SLS space launch system rocket, the block one with one stage. More robust top and an expanded payload capacity the SLS is ready to carry astronauts and essential cargo to the lunar surface.

Four crew members will lift off from Launch Pad 39b at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, aboard Orion, the agency's multipurpose spacecraft, after separation from the core stage the upper stage will perform an injection burn translunar propelling Orion and I-HAB towards the moon, once in lunar orbit Orion will dock with Gateway beginning a series of lunar excursions for the Artemis 4 astronauts who will venture to the lunar surface aboard a customized StarShip spacecraft of SpaceX equipped with cutting-edge space suits and advanced scientific instruments.

The crew will conduct various scientific experiments including field geology instrument deployment and collection of samples for analysis After completing their mission the crew will return to Gateway to prepare for return to earth aboard Oran Ada with valuable scientific samples and data.