The Orion spacecraft will fly on NASA’s unmanned Artemis I mission, possibly as late as 2021.
NASA / Marvin Smith
The past year has been a big hit for space missions. Now that we’re official in 2021, NASA is looking forward to a busy schedule of space exploration as it aims at the moon, Mars, and beyond. The space agency has released a video showing its plans for the new year, and the moon is the star of the show.
NASA’s 2021 video begins with all eyes on the moon and the planned launch of Artemis I.
While the video is full of hope and optimism, the truth is that launching space missions to Earth on time is a challenge. a The NASA report was released in late 2020 Mention the delays of the Space Launch System (SLS) missile, Coronavirus pandemic Scheduling problems and high costs as obstacles to the agency’s stated goal of landing humans on the Moon in 2024 through the Artemis program.
The first major test of the SLS and Orion spacecraft is in the works for 2021 with Artemis I, but we have to wait and see if the unmanned mission is capable of launching this year after all.
Beyond Apollo: Watch NASA’s Moon Target with Artemis 2024
See all photos
Other NASA goals for 2021 are on track. The Rover perseverance Everything is ready to land on Mars on February 18th. If all goes well, it would be the start of a long-term plan to bring Mars rock samples back to Earth. It was long overdue The James Webb Space Telescope is still on the calendar For the October 31 launch date.
The Moon, Mars and James Webb are just a few of the highlights. The full video will take you all the way from the International Space Station to DART mission to redirect the asteroid. If NASA can check out most of these from its 2021 to-do list, we’d be in another epic year in space.
Follow with NASA and other agencies’ exploits throughout the year with Our space calendar for 2021.
