MOON MISSION. PARKING LESSON FIRST.

The real news

The story, straight

Before astronauts can walk on the Moon, their spacecraft need to connect. That connection is called docking: separate vehicles join so astronauts can move between them.

Think changing vehicles, except the car park is space.

NASA's November 4 article restates an existing plan, reporting an October 23 update. Artemis 3 is scheduled to launch in 2027 with 4 astronauts for a planned 14-day mission in Earth orbit.

NASA's Orion spacecraft would practise meeting and docking with lander test vehicles from Blue Origin and SpaceX.

Artemis 4 would attempt the crewed Moon landing in 2028. Both companies are targeting readiness to support that landing.

Those are plans, not guaranteed arrival dates.

Moonshots discussed the schedule in its November 4 episode. The delicious contrast: the destination is the Moon, but the next mission's homework is connecting vehicles near Earth.

Our visual joke puts Lil'meme at Orion's controls with an enormous learner-driver plate. He has packed for the Moon and discovered the itinerary starts with parking lessons.

The useful part isn't the plate. Testing those connections near Earth is meant to reduce risk before the landing mission.

An ambitious destination doesn't make practising the basics optional.

Source: NASA, NASA Shares Plans to Accelerate Artemis, Return to Moon.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/nasa-shares-plans-to-accelerate-artemis-return-to-moon/

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