US Lunar Program

The main articles are:

• Moon
• Cosmonautics of the United States
• NASA

2024

A $4.8 billion contract has been signed to develop communication between the Moon and the Earth

At the end of September 2024, it became known that NASA had signed a contract with Intuitive Machines to develop communication between the Moon and the Earth. The GEO to Cislunar Relay Services project will relay messages from Earth satellites (located in geosynchronous orbits) to and from the Moon. News of the concluded contract caused a powerful increase in the value of shares of Intuitive Machines, reaching 77%. Read more here.

World's first non-state spacecraft launched for the moon

On January 8, 2023, for the first time in history, a non-state company successfully launched a spacecraft to the moon. This is a project called Peregrine. Read more here.

2023

$3.4 billion contract to develop lander to bring astronauts to and from the moon

A team led by Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, won NASA's coveted contract to develop a lander that would take astronauts to and from the lunar surface. The contract with Blue Origin is valued at about $3.4 billion.

Blue Origin is not the only winner. She leads a team that also includes companies, Lockheed Martin,, Astrobotic Boeing Draper and Honeybee Robotics.

The United States leads in the number of landings on the moon and approaches to it - 42 times

Startup, whose Ukrainian owner was forced to sell it to the Americans, will deliver NASA cargo to the far side of the moon

On March 14, 2023, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the conclusion of a contract with Firefly Aerospace from Texas to deliver cargo to the far side of the moon. Read more here.

2022

US Orion spacecraft completes flight to Moon as part of Artemis-1 mission

The American Orion spacecraft, without astronauts on board, completed a test flight to the Moon on December 11, 2022 as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

The descent capsule of the ship was splashed at 09.40 in time on the west coast of the United States (at 20.40 Moscow time) in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Mexican state of Baja California, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reported.

The launch of the spacecraft by the Space Launch System (SLS) super-heavy launch vehicle was carried out on November 16 from the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome in Florida after being postponed several times due to technical problems and bad weather.

During the mission, which lasted more than 25 days, Orion flew around the moon twice on November 21 and December 5, approaching its surface at a distance of about 130 km. In addition, he spent six days in a distant retrograde circumlunar orbit. At that time, the distance to the surface of the moon was about 85 thousand km. Being in this orbit made it possible to assess the capabilities of the ship and test its systems at a great distance from Earth^[1]

Orion ship completes orbital manoeuvre and moves to departure trajectory to Moon

The super-heavy rocket NASA still went to. To the moon This became known on November 17, 2022.

The Orion ship completed the orbital maneuver and switched to a departure trajectory to the moon.

Photo source: 24gadget.ru

The intermediate cryogenic motor stage (ICPS) completed an 18-minute translunar injection, and the spacecraft separated from the stage, the NASA press service said.

ICPS was launched an hour and a half after launch on an SLS rocket, and increased its speed from 28,160 km/h to 36,210 km/h.

After entering the trajectory and undocking, Orion made a small maneuver to fly a safe distance from the stage, and soon 10 cubsats will also separate from it. Orion will take about six days to fly, then the capsule will spend about 10 days in lunar orbit before heading to Earth. The ship will enter the atmosphere on December 11 at a speed of about 40 thousand km/h and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. If everything goes well, the next flight, Artemis 2, will take place with the crew on board in approximately the same scheme.

Photo source: 24gadget.ru

Earlier, NASA chose SpaceX's Starship rocket for the second landing of people on the moon^[2].

Preparing to launch SLS rocket to test moon landing plan

NASA's next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at the end of August 2022 is ready for the debut test launch of a six-week test flight around the moon and back without a crew, marking the first mission of the Artemis program, the successor to Apollo.

The launch of the Artemis 1 mission to the moon was canceled due to a liquid hydrogen leak detected during refueling, NASA said. If troubleshooting occurs, the next launch attempt may be made on September 2, 2022.

While there will be no humans aboard the ship, NASA's Orion capsule will carry a simulated crew of three - one male and two female - equipped with sensors to measure radiation levels and other stresses experienced by real astronauts.

The Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2025 and create a long-term lunar colony as a stepping stone to even more ambitious future missions to Mars.

2021

SpaceX wins competition to bring astronauts to the moon

In April 2021, SpaceX won a competition held by NASA among applicants for a contract to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface.

Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Draper and Dynetics participated in the final stage of the competition.

The creation of a system for landing the crew on the surface of the moon will require about $2.89 billion. In accordance with NASA's plan, four astronauts will be delivered to the lunar station on the Orion ship, from there two of them will go to the moon on the SpaceX-owned Starship.

US Senate set to defend Apollo landing sites... from the Americans themselves

On December 31, 2020, the law "One small step towards protecting the heritage of mankind in space" entered into force in the United States. He demands that American companies and other organizations working with NASA on lunar programs do not "disturb" the equipment that astronauts left on the moon 50 years ago.

"I have long advocated for the preservation of Apollo program artifacts, which have deep cultural, historical and scientific value not only for the United States, but for all of humanity," says bill co-author and Rep. Bernice Johnson.

The recommendations, which have not yet been binding, prescribe that spacecraft should follow certain routes when descending to the surface of the moon, as well as not approach the "forbidden zones" in order to avoid deliberate or unintentional "damage" of the Apollo landing sites. In this case, security areas around traces and equipment on the surface are determined.

Roscosmos left the American lunar project Gateway

At the end of January 2021, it became known about the exit Roskosmos of "" from the lunar project Gateway headed by. NASA At the same time, the Russian state corporation announced its readiness to discuss USA with questions on the topic of the near-moon station, if they are of "mutual interest." More. here

2020

Work begins to launch 4G on the moon

In October 2020, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed an agreement with Nokia for the construction of a 4G LTE telecommunications network on the moon. The contract value is $14.1 million. Read more here.

In the United States, they came up with a new term "lunapolitics"

In the United States, they came up with a new term "lunapolitics" - lunar geopolitics, the principle of which is very trivial: whoever stuck the flag into the surface of the Earth's satellite can claim its resources^[3].

American Space News calls the US refusal to consider space an irrational public domain: "America will be isolated if it ignores the legitimate interests of the advanced space powers - Russia and China."

The authors of the publication called on Washington to "show prudence and abandon selfishness," because "joint space programs with Russia are the basis for promising projects in orbit and beyond."

Lawyers commented on Trump's decree on the US right to use the resources of the moon

While the whole world is fighting the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19 President USA Donald Trump has signed a decree in support of the commercial development of resources on the moon and other celestial bodies, the White House press service said. Lawyers from the law office of "" Moscow Scheglov & Partners commented on this decree.

"Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, extraction and use of resources in outer space under current law. Outer space is a legally and physically unique area of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global asset. Accordingly, United States policy should encourage international support for public-private reconstruction and the use of resources in outer space in accordance with applicable law, "the decree says.

It is important to note that space both legally and physically serves as "a unique space for human activity and the United States does not consider it as a public domain," therefore, the country's policy should be aimed at "stimulating international support for the extraction and use of resources in space."

At the same time, the United States does not recognize the Agreement on the activities of states on the Moon and other celestial bodies, the decree says. "In this regard, the Secretary of State should oppose any attempt by any other state or international organization to interpret the Moon Agreement as reflecting or otherwise expressing customary international law," it said.

The Agreement on the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, adopted by a resolution of the UN General Assembly in December 1979, states that the study and use of the satellite is considered the property of all mankind and is carried out in the interests of all countries of the world. States that explore the moon should be guided by the principles of cooperation and mutual assistance. "The moon is not subject to national appropriation either by proclaiming sovereignty on it, by use or occupation, or by any other means," the agreement emphasizes.

Senator Alexei Pushkov noted that such plans look so far only as a distant prospect, however, in his opinion, such statements by Washington are an application for the seizure of the resources of the Earth's satellite. "The United States appropriates a right that no one gave them. This is piracy, not leadership, "he tweeted.

In addition, the US president was answered early in the morning on the Roscosmos website: "Attempts to expropriate outer space and aggressive plans to actually seize the territories of the planets hardly set up countries for fruitful cooperation" - deputy. Director General for International Cooperation Sergei Savelyev. Then Dmitry Rogozin announced this note: "Trump issued two decrees: 1. On the actual assignment to the United States of the territory of the Moon and other celestial bodies. 2. On the state of emergency in the United States due to the coronavirus. We are trying to understand how these decrees are related. "

Lawyer Yulia Lyalutskaya, Deputy Senior Managing Partner of the Shcheglov & Partners Law Office of Moscow, noted: "The discussion about the possibility and procedure for developing and extracting raw materials from celestial bodies has been going on since the very beginning of space exploration. As the closest thing to Earth, the Moon sparks the fiercest debate.

The fact is that according to Art. 1 of the Treaty on the Principles of the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, from 1966, the study and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, regardless of the degree of their economic or scientific development, and is the property of all mankind.

Under Article 2 of the Treaty, outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall not be subject to national appropriation, either by proclaiming sovereignty thereon, by use or occupation, or by any other means.

Thus, the space treaty and the moon agreement enshrine in relation to the latter the concept of the common heritage of mankind. It covers spaces and resources that by their nature cannot belong to one state, these are: oceans, deep sea bottom, Antarctica, space, atmosphere, the environment as a whole.

A different attitude towards these spaces would invariably lead to the genocide of those States and nations that cannot afford to prove the right to use such resources by force of arms.

The idea of "appropriating the moon's resources" is not new. Back in 1970, Argentina submitted to the UN a draft international agreement on the use of natural resources of celestial bodies. However, this project did not receive support. American lawyer J. Walcott back in 1982 proposed changing the Moon Agreement, allowing states to "deliver the extracted resources to Earth, guided by the principle of justice." And here, a new attempt by Mr. Trump, but without democratic proposals, but in the spirit of an ultimatum.

It is obvious to the entire world community that it will be necessary to use the resources of celestial bodies. Moreover, such use can lead us to a completely new stage of development.

But how to define the boundaries of this principle of justice and use "for the good and in the interests of all countries"? The theory of the welfare state has long collapsed, which is to say the "planet of prosperity."

But an ultimatum solution to this issue will lead to conflicts. The struggle for such unlimited resources will not be soft.

I would like the fever from COVID-19, which inspired such ultimatums to the American president, to be released, and the world community would solve these issues at the negotiating table. "

Recall that in March 2019, Trump demanded "at any cost" to send Americans to the moon, giving NASA five years to do so. Following this, the department announced the Artemis space program, which consists of two stages - landing a crew with the first woman on the moon and flying to a satellite with the creation of infrastructure on it. The president promised to allocate an additional $1.6 billion to NASA for this project. In September of that year, Australia joined the program. In early February, Trump asked Congress to allocate money for a manned flight program to Mars and the moon. This is necessary for "the next man and the first woman on the moon to be American astronauts and for America to be the first country to plant its flag on Mars," he said.

Roscosmos: Trump is trying to seize other planets through a decree on the exploration of the moon

On April 7, 2020, a message Roskosmos appeared on the website "" in which the state corporation accuses the president USA Donald Trump of trying to capture other planets. This was stated by the deputy head of Roscosmos for international cooperation Sergey Savelyev. According to him, the decree of the American leader in support of the commercial development of resources on the Moon and other celestial bodies serves as an attempt to expropriate outer space. More. here

NASA unveils ambitious plan for lunar exploration

On April 2, the National Space Council NASA was presented with a detailed plan of activities for astronauts during a long-term stay at the first permanent lunar base Artemis^[4] for^[5]

"After 20 years of continuous life in Earth orbit, we are ready for the next big task of space exploration - creating a stable presence on and around the moon," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

It is assumed that the astronaut camp will be built in the Shackleton crater at the south pole of the moon. According to the project, the base will be able to receive up to 4 astronauts, whom NASA management will choose from 12 thousand Americans who have applied. During their stay on the surface of a lonely Earth satellite, researchers will study the features of the lunar soil and check whether the conditions of space are suitable for human life.

Artemis will become the largest extraterrestrial laboratory in which people will learn to produce fuel, building materials and water from available local materials. NASA plans to find ways to combat unpleasant lunar dust, as well as figure out how to adapt to cold lunar nights and relentless cosmic radiation. Robotics and new technologies, including mobile systems, will help to implement the planned.

Two mobile vehicles are being developed for the lunar mission: a light transport lunar rover for short-term movements and a habitable mobile platform - a means for long-range expeditions lasting up to 45 days.

In the long term, the lunar base must be equipped with a landing pad, as well as infrastructure for autonomous power supply, communication with the Earth and waste disposal.

The most ambitious and breathtaking part of the Artemis project is the Gateway station orbiting the Earth's satellite. The lunar "gate" will serve as a launch pad for flights simulating long-range interplanetary missions. The first simulated expedition will be a manned "flight" to Mars.

A team of four astronauts will spend months at the station collecting data on how outer space affects equipment and the human body. When as long as it takes to reach the Red Planet, the astronauts rehearse the landing on the surface of Mars. Two crew members will descend on the lunar surface, and then return to the rocket and again go on the "road." For several more months, astronauts will live in the orbit of the moon.

NASA has selected the first scientific instruments for the Lunar Gateway lunar orbital station

The US space department has chosen the first two scientific programs that are implemented at a promising station built in the orbit of a satellite of our planet. One of the experiments will study the solar wind, and the second is designed to answer questions related to radiation in lunar orbit.

On March 12, NASA announced^[6] that it would conduct the first two experiments under the Lunar Gateway program, a space station that will be built in orbit of the moon. This will collect data that will help future missions to land a person on a satellite of our planet.

One of the experiments is designed to answer questions related to space weather. The other will measure radiation conditions in the moon's orbit.

The set of tools created by the American space department is designed, in particular, to answer questions related to the solar wind - the flow of ionized particles flowing out of the solar corona. The collected data will make it possible to better predict events related to the luminary: subsequently they will be able to help in organizing missions to the lunar surface and flights to other objects of the system.

The package of tools for the second experiment aimed at studying radiation will be created by specialists from the European Space Agency. The program will allow you to better understand how to ensure the safety of astronauts during expeditions.

NASA presented a project to build a base of mushrooms on the moon (video)

Dwellings for future colonists of the Moon and Mars can be grown from mushroom pickle. This idea was made by scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center. A message about this was published on the official website of the US Space Agency.

It is assumed that for "living construction" it is first necessary to build an ice shell using the corresponding reserves on the Moon and Mars. Then place a colony of cyanobacteria inside. They will produce oxygen from ice for humans and nutrients for mycelium.

The latter, gradually growing in the right directions, will form the walls of the dwelling. Once "live construction" is complete, the mycelium will need to be calcined to stop further development. Under experimental conditions, scientists at the center have already been able to get something like a stool from a mushroom picker, as well as analogues of building bricks.

2019

The US wants to land on the moon again (Artemis programme)

In March 2019, United States President Donald Trump demanded that NASA deliver American astronauts to the moon no later than 2024. Then, for these purposes, Vice President Mike Pence promised to allocate "any necessary funds." The initiative of the country's leadership was supported by the head of NASA, Jim Bridenstein^[7].

Trump's order required an adjustment to NASA's plans for the lunar program, which was officially named Artemis in May 2019. First of all, we are talking about accelerating the construction of the SLS (Space Launch System) super-heavy rocket and the development of the Gateway international lunar station. It is important that the implementation of the planned plans added a lot of work to NASA lobbyists in the United States Congress and demanded the dismissal of William Gerstenmeier, deputy head of the space agency for manned programs.

The implementation of the Artemis program should take place in two phases, the first of which focuses on "speed," and the second on "sustainability." According to Bridenstein, the main task of the first phase is to ensure that Americans land in the South Pole region of the Moon by 2024, where water ice reserves have been discovered. As part of the second phase, NASA, together with international partners, should ensure a sustainable human presence on the surface and orbit of the moon by 2028.

The first phase of Artemis 1 involves three SLS launches with the Orion spacecraft at the head - an unmanned flight of the Orion spacecraft installed on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket around the moon and its return to Earth. During the mission, an unmanned flyby of the moon is Artemis-1 planned, Artemis-2 (in 2023) - a manned flyby of the natural satellite of the Earth with a crew on board, Artemis-3 - the descent of astronauts to the surface of the natural satellite of the Earth in 2024 and send them to Mars approximately in the mid-2030s. At the same time, the deployment of the appropriate infrastructure should begin in the orbit and surface of the moon, for which third-party contractors will be involved.

Artemis Phase 1

Russia is ready to support the Lunar Orbital Gateway project after testing its systems

Roscosmos is ready to cooperate with NASA on the Lunar Orbital Gateway program after completing tests of the promising Federation spacecraft and the super-heavy rocket. This was announced in June 2019 by TASS Information Agency of Russia, Deputy General Director of the state corporation for international cooperation Sergei Savelyev at the Le Bourget-2019 International Aerospace Salon.

"We have not yet made a final decision on the level and scope of our participation in the Gateway Okololunnaya platform project, however, after the completion of tests of the new spacecraft and the super-heavy class launch vehicle, we are ready to support the project, at least providing a backup means of supporting and rescuing the crew," he said.

Plans to create an international near-moon station became known in the spring of 2016. Then it was reported that, together with the American corporation Boeing, preliminary work was underway to create a lunar infrastructure in support of future plans of national agencies. It was previously assumed that the station will be called Deep Space Gateway, but now NASA documents call it Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway.

WSJ learned about NASA's plans to spend $500 million on lunar exploration for the year

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration USA () NASA will require the US authorities to increase its budget by more than $500 million next, 2020, fiscal year (starting October 1). This was reported in March by the ​The Wall Street Journal WSJ () WSJ with reference^[8] sources familiar^[9] situation^[10]funds, according to the interlocutors of the publication, NASA is going to spend on^[11] exploration^[12] programs^[13]

Thus, as the space department hopes, they will partially be able to accelerate cooperation between the state and the space industry in the development and launch of new lunar landers.

In general, the general budget plan, which NASA expects in fiscal 2020, involves the allocation of $21 billion by the American authorities to the aeronautics department, writes WSJ. Such a figure, according to her, is less than 2% of the current expenses of the department, but $1.1 billion (or 5%) more than the amount that NASA requested from Congress in the past godu.​

The current request of the space department is aimed at reorienting its goals by accelerating human commercial activities related to the Moon and research into the natural satellite of the Earth, newspaper sources say.

According to them, assistants to US President Donald Trump prepare such annual NASA spending packages for the department. Thus, as the WSJ interlocutors concluded, despite the fact that the White House is reducing budget allocations for a number of large research projects of the National Administration, it is still trying more than twice as much as 2019 year to increase funding for NASA in the field of lunar issledovany.​

It is expected that a similar strategy in the coming months in connection with the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the human moon will be supported by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, sources say. The historic mission of the American manned spacecraft Apollo 11, when astronaut Neil Armstrong first set foot on the surface of the moon, took place in July 1969.

List of companies selected by NASA for the development and production of prototypes of spacecraft for landing on the moon

The task of designing the habitable module of the lunar orbital station Gateway was assigned to Northrop Grumman, an American military-industrial giant that is not only engaged in production in the aerospace industry, but also in shipbuilding. It was included in the list of companies selected by NASA for the development and production of prototypes of spacecraft for landing on the moon, in May 2019. Northrop Grumman is mainly engaged in the production of heavy ships and aircraft carriers, and has been developing spacecraft for the past 15 years. Its only successful project in this industry is the Cygnus spacecraft - it was used to deliver cargo to the International Space Station after the completion of the Space Shuttle program. The last flight of the ship on the Antares-230 + launch vehicle was made on February 15, 2020, and after three for the ship they successfully docked with the ISS^[14].

Now Northrop Grumman has a much more difficult task - not only to put the lunar station into space, but also to provide it with everything necessary so that in the future astronauts can use Gateway as an "intermediate stop" for flights to the Earth's satellite. Or maybe even to Mars. The first two modules of the station are scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2023. NASA planned to launch them on two different rockets, and then dock the modules in orbit, but later changed its decision - now two modules together will be launched at once. It is planned to send the station into space... using a Falcon Heavy rocket.

The module, which was commissioned to create Northrop Grumman, will be a kind of temporary "home" for astronauts. At the same time, it is based, according to engineers, on the developments from the Cygnus spacecraft. Last year, the layout of such a device was already assembled and tested by the company's specialists together with NASA. The module implies the presence of four docking nodes that will be able to receive new spacecraft from Earth, an engine system for maneuvering and a life support system for astronauts. The first stage of development will cost the company $187 million - then NASA will continue to finance the project as the device is ready.

2018

Amazon chief ready to spend all his money colonising the moon

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos plans to turn the moon into a major center for heavy industry in order to preserve Earth's resources in this way. Bezos told journalist Alan Boyle at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Los Angeles, USA^[15].

In order to implement this project, Bezos Blue Origin has offered a public-private partnership to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bezos is also considering cooperation on the creation of a settlement on the moon with the European Space Agency.

As part of a partnership with NASA, the head of Amazon intends to build a lander with which it will be possible to explore the possibility of organizing production and providing conditions for human life on the moon. The device will be able to deliver 5 tons of payload to the Earth's satellite, this should be enough to carry out some serious work. With proper support, the device may start working by the mid-2020s.

If space agencies do not agree to help, then Blue Origin will deal with the project alone, Bezos said, and things will go even faster than in the partnership. He is ready, if necessary, to independently create all the necessary infrastructure on the moon. "One of two things will happen: either other people will share my vision, or I will run out of money," said the entrepreneur, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at more than $130 billion.

According to Bezos, transferring heavy industry from Earth to the moon is not a matter of such a distant future. It will take "decades, maybe a hundred years," the billionaire believes. "It will become easier for us to do a lot of things that we are doing in outer space now on Earth, because we will have a lot of energy," Bezos said. He is betting on the moon, not on any other planet, since it is located nearby - you can get there from Earth in just a couple of days.

2017

Trump wants to send a man to the moon again

On December 11, the president USA Donald Trump signed a directive that instructs NASA to begin preparations for a manned flight to the moon - 45 years after the last landing of astronauts on the surface of the Earth's satellite^[16]

The United States has repeatedly resumed the lunar program - and more than once closed

On December 7, 1972, astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt embarked on their final manned flight to the Moon. The Apollo 17 mission was a record for both the duration of stay on the moon (three days) and the number of samples delivered to Earth. After that, the Apollo program was closed, and expensive manned flights to the moon were not resumed by any of the world powers. The total US costs for the lunar mission amounted to $25 billion (146 billion in modern prices), and in some years the program took up to 70% of NASA's total space budget from NASA, preventing it from doing anything else.

In the next 45 years, the United States (and not only) repeatedly resumed the conversation about sending a person to the moon, but invariably faced certain problems - primarily of a financial nature. The last attempt was made in 2004 by George W. Bush, who promised to return to the moon no later than 2020. About $9 billion was spent on a space exploration program called Constellation, which included a mission to the moon; Barack Obama during the election campaign in 2008 promised not to interfere with the exploration of the moon, but did not keep his word and, becoming president, canceled the "Constellation": in the conditions of the largest financial crisis in decades, it was not before flights to the moon. Obama also explained that now is not the time to chase a single achievement like going to the moon, but it is necessary to think more broadly and set more ambitious goals.

The Constellation program was replaced with a new broader Space Launch System, which slightly resembles plans Elona Musk for space exploration and involves reusing spacecraft and flying to Mars. Its development is far from complete, even the main rocket, similar in characteristics to the company's Falcon Heavy, is not ready. SpaceX

Trump has vowed to revive flights to the moon. How and for what money is unclear

The 45th President of the United States has repeatedly said that astronauts should return to the moon as soon as possible. On December 11, he signed a space installation directive stating the need to urgently return to the exploration of the moon. According to Trump's plan, a permanent base must be created on the moon: it is assumed that humanity will go from it to Mars, and then to other planets.

Trump's directive is something like a declaration of intent, which was supported by NASA. Interim head of the space agency Robert Lightfoot noted that NASA is going to concentrate on sending a person to the moon. At the same time, the directive does not oblige NASA to abandon everything and do only this: first you need to find money at least to develop a plan for flights to the moon, not to mention its implementation.

New costs can be included in the NASA budget for 2019, for this they must be supported by Congress, which, although under the control of Trump's party members from the Republican Party, does not always support his initiatives.

Deep Space Gateway Lunar Station

Roskosmos"" NASA and agreed to jointly develop a lunar space station. Deep Space Gateway This was stated by the head of Roscosmos Igor Komarov in September 2017. Participation in the project can take,, China India as well as other countries. BRICS

Jeff Bezos reveals plans to bring cargo to the moon

Jeff Bezos shows off possible appearance of New Glenn launch vehicle under development

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and aerospace company Blue Origin, plans to bring cargo to the moon. This is reported by The Washington Post^[17], relying on the words of the entrepreneur and the materials that Blue Origin sent to NASA.

Judging by the materials published by The Washington Post, Blue Origin is interested in creating a Blue Moon spacecraft with a lander that will lie at the South Pole near Shackleton Crater. The landing site was not chosen by chance - it is planned to deploy a solar power plant for auxiliary needs, and the ice, which is located in the crater, can be used to produce hydrogen.

Blue Origin intends to focus not on manned flights, but on cargo transportation for a potentially possible lunar colony. The Blue Moon ship will take on board 4.5 tons of cargo, and it is planned to use various missiles for launch, including Atlas V, as well as the SLS and New Glenn being developed, the latter of which is being developed by Blue Origin itself. The document says that the company will be able to start delivering goods from the mid-20s.

1972: Apollons 16 and 17 are the last crews to fly to the moon

Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 in 1972 were the last two crew missions to the moon.

On April 21, 1972, the descent vehicle of the American Apollo 16 spacecraft landed on the lunar surface in the Descartes crater area.

The launch of the Apollo 16 spacecraft was scheduled for March 17, 1972, but was postponed to April 16 due to breakdowns in the separation mechanisms of the lunar compartment and errors in the operation of onboard batteries. Then it turned out that the spacesuit of one of the astronauts was overextended when it tilted, and the spacesuit was sent back to the factory for the refills. The start and flight to the moon were normal, but a malfunction of the spare engine thrust control system caused astronauts to linger in orbit of the moon. While the Earth was analyzing the possible consequences of this malfunction, they made three unplanned turns. Finally, after 6 hours, boarding was allowed.

The landing site turned out to be cluttered with large stones, despite this, the landing was carried out with great art: the actual landing point lay only 150 meters north and 215 meters west of the calculated point - the Descartes plateau. This place was not accidentally chosen to land the fifth lunar expedition. It was here that selenologists assumed to detect traces of volcanic activity.

On April 21, 1972, a man in a clumsy white spacesuit descended on the forest of the Orion lunar module. It was John Young, commander of Apollo 16. During the years given to astronautics, Young flew twice on the Gemini ships, on Apollo 10, then on the Shuttle and Columbia. In total, he visited space six times. Young got newcomers as fellow travelers: Charles Duke and Thomas Mattingly.

The area around the lunar cabin was covered with a layer of dust. "It's not the cleanest place I've had to see in my life," Young relayed. When Duke dropped one appliance, the dust, he said, rose so "like a bomb went off."

After deploying a complex of instruments and drilling three wells 3 meters deep, the astronauts set off on a trip on their electric apparatus - the lunar rover. The stones forced them to slow down to 6 kilometers per hour. The shaking caused great inconvenience. Lunokhod was not prepared for such a road. The trim indicator failed (which prevented, according to the astronauts, sometimes to understand whether the descent or ascent was taking place), the entire navigation system (returned in its own track), one wing flew off, and lunar travelers were periodically covered with dust.

April 21, 1972. "Orion" on the Moon

Despite frequent failures of equipment, astronauts performed a large amount of work. An ultraviolet telescope was installed and used on the surface of the moon. It was the first and still only astronomical observatory in history on the moon. A series of photographic observations of the Earth, nebulae, star clusters and the Great Magellanic Cloud were performed using a distant ultraviolet spectrograph camera mounted on the Schmidt system telescope with a three-inch lens. A distant ultraviolet camera was used to film the sky in ultraviolet rays, which are usually absorbed by the earth's atmosphere and are therefore invisible from the surface of our planet. In total, one hundred and seventy-eight images were captured on the film that the astronauts brought to Earth.

In addition, stones were collected from the surface of the Moon in this mission using a lunar moving station and observations of mysterious lunar hills were made.

The Apollo 16 spacecraft spent three days on Earth's natural satellite. It was the fifth flight to the moon of six of the same flights during which humans landed on the moon. Following the completion of the expedition, the Apollo 16 crew splashed down on 27 April 1972 less than two kilometers from the aircraft carrier "Ticonderoga," setting a new landing accuracy record for "Apollons."

1971: Apollons 14 and 15 - the third and fourth landing of people on the moon

The third moon landing took place in January 1971 with Apollo 14. Commander Alan Shepard set a new record for the longest distance traveled on the moon: 2,700 meters.

Alan Shepard plays golf on the moon, 1971.

In 1971, as part of the Apollo 14 mission, astronaut Alan Shepard asked to take a golf club and two balls to the moon - just to pulse before flying back, to which he was given the go-ahead. After the first strike, the control center commented on the attempt:

• Bend your knees a little harder and tilt your head lower.

"I'm wearing a fucking spacesuit!" Shepard replied.

But indeed, if after the first attempt the ball was sent about 200 meters, then from the second it flew as much as 400, after which the astronauts packed their things and went home to Earth on the most expensive vehicle ever built.

The Apollo 15 mission, which launched in July 1971, collected a huge number of lunar samples.

Astronaut Jim Irwin with lunar rover LRV near Hadley Rill Canyon on July 31, 1971

The Fallen Astronaut is the only monument allegedly left on the Moon by the crew of the Apollo 15 spacecraft in 1.08.1971. Next to the figure, a plate with the names of eight US astronauts and six USSR cosmonauts is stuck in the ground.

Earth's crescent moon rises above the Moon horizon

Photo taken from the Apollo 15 spacecraft, 1971]]

1969

In 1969, the United States still managed to become the first in the process of the space race with the USSR, namely, in the successful landing of American astronauts on the moon. Two crew members of the Apollo 11 manned spacecraft managed to set foot on the space body closest to Earth.

Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969.

Neil Armstrong set foot first on the moon. He was then joined by second crew member Buzz Aldrin. American astronauts stayed on the lunar surface for 2.5 hours. During this time, they managed to install an American flag on the surface of the Earth's satellite, as well as collect 47 pounds of samples of lunar rocks and dust.

Cosmonaut Neil Armstrong is lifted aboard a helicopter, July 24, 1969, Pacific Ocean

Over the next few years, under the Apollo program, another 10 astronauts followed in the footsteps of Armstrong and Aldrin. The last landing on the moon took place in 1972.

Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean holds a container for lunar surface samples, 1969.

Software developer Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton, chief software engineer at NASA.

During the landing of the Apollo 11 mission on the Moon (1969), one of the blocks (radar is unnecessary for landing), began to take up computer time more than expected due to incorrect positioning. The control program was smart enough to determine this and disabled low-priority tasks (processing radar data) for the high-priority task of landing the module on the moon.

In fact, the management program, written by Margaret, not only detected and reported errors, but also included remediation and disaster recovery modules. It is believed that without this, the Apollo 11 mission would hardly have been successful.

Margaret Hamilton, chief software engineer at NASA. And nearby is the Apollo mission management program she wrote.

It is she who is credited with the emergence of the term 'software engineering' (software development). In this area, she developed and began to use: asynchronous calls, priority execution, full testing, which served as the basis for the development of modern, fault-resistant software.

1966-1967

In 1966 and 1967, NASA launched five lunar orbital missions that were designed to fly the moon and map its surface - in preparation for subsequent crewed landings. These orbiters photographed about 99% of the lunar surface. So these uncrewed robotic probes paved the way for a giant leap forward in space exploration.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy directed the United States to send the first man to the moon before the end of the decade. The Apollo program was designed to safely send humans to and from the moon. In general, before the completion of the Apollo project in 1972, six expeditions and a dozen people visited the moon. The first humans to reach the Lunar Surface were Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin when their Apollo 11 lunar lander Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility.

1961-1965

• The first visitors to the Earth's satellite were robots. So, the first robotic vehicle that successfully landed on the moon was the Soviet Luna-2 vehicle.
• The third lunar expedition subsequently captured the first, blurred images of the dark side of the moon.
• Two years later, nine NASA Ranger spacecraft launched between 1961 and 1965 gave scientists the opportunity to take a close look at the lunar surface for the first time.
• And two years later, Ranger-7 rushed to the moon and took more than 4000 pictures 15 minutes before he crashed on its surface. The resulting images of all "Ranger" missions made it possible to see the uneven terrain of the moon, as well as to resolve potential difficulties in finding a landing site.

1959: The US wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on the moon in an attempt to show the USSR dominance in space

In June 2020, new details of the A119 project (known as the Study of Research Lunar Flights) became known, in which the United States planned to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon in an attempt to demonstrate its dominance in space.

The nuclear explosion on the surface of the moon was certainly "one of the stupidest things the government could do," says John Greenwald Jr., author of Secrets from the Vault, cited by the Daily Mail.

Cover of the Study of Exploratory Lunar Flights report, volume one.

Greenwald is known for studying the secrets of the US government for many years and oversees the online repository The Black Vault, which has collected about 2.1 million pages of previously classified documents related to UFOs, mysterious murders and other mysterious phenomena.

According to the expert, the American authorities were developing a lunar mission to "show dominance in space by the United States over the Soviet Union and, ultimately, over the whole world."

The A119 project was canceled by the US Air Force in January 1959. No reasons have been announced. It is assumed that, firstly, the initiators of the project and the leaders of the United States were afraid of a negative reaction from the public and, secondly, the plan could pose a danger to the population in the event of a failed launch.

Another argument against the project, cited by project manager Leonard Reifel, was the possible consequences of radioactive contamination of large areas on the Moon, which in the future could be used in the exploration and colonization of the Moon.

We've been working on the project for less than a year. Showed what the consequences could be. But the real argument we made and others came out behind closed doors was that there was no point in destroying the moon's pristine environment. There were other ways to impress the public, ahead of the Russians, "Reifel said.

By June 2020, the US government continues to deny its official participation in the planned explosion on the moon.^[18]

1958

This is how they saw a suit for a walk on the moon in 1958.

Шаблон:Theme Space

Notes