• Special NASA prepares to return to the Moon

For NASA astronauts who are going to the Moon there is no vacation. The four crew members selected last April to orbit the Moon in November 2024 have seen this Tuesday for the first time the Orion spacecraft in which they will travel during the Artemis 2 mission, and then they have appeared at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the heads of the US space agency to explain how their training is going and the preparations for the first manned trip to the Moon in more than half a century.

"It has been a great day," said Reid Wiseman, the commander of this mission also formed by pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the latter of the Canadian Space Agency. "We have been busy since April," summarized Wiseman, who stressed how impressed he is by the work of the team: "I would like all Americans, Canadians, Europeans and everyone who supports us to see the quality of the people who are part of this program, how hard they work and how motivated and excited they are. "

"The fact that the crew has already seen their spacecraft is another important step to return to the Moon. Remember we're back on the moon but it's a different moon, we're going to the south pole, and we're going to see several spacecraft, some from other countries that are going to land in the future, and some this year," NASA Director Bill Nelson said.

Without going any further, next Friday Russia plans to launch the Luna-25 robotic spacecraft to the South Pole, the first one it commands in half a century: "I don't think many people at this time would say that Russia is ready for its cosmonauts to land on the moon in the term we are talking about. I think thespace race is really being fought between the US and China and we have to protect the rights of the international community," Nelson said.

The head of the agency recalled that having water on the lunar surface will potentially have hydrogen and oxygen. "And that's why we go back to the moon, to learn and live in the space environment for long periods of time, to be able to go to Mars and come back safely."

As he stated during a recent interview with EL MUNDO, the head of NASA has stated that the US goal is to make sure that water [from the Moon] is available to everyone: "Seeing the actions of the Chinese Government on Earth, claiming the Spratly Islands as its own, we want to make sure that the ideals on the peaceful and cooperative use of space that are reflected in the Artemis Agreements, which have already been signed by 28 countries, will be respected. Naturally, I don't want China to reach the South Pole with humans first, to say it's theirs, and the rest of us to stay out."

Now, Nelson added, NASA is coming back "differently, with commercial partners and with international partners ... and just like with the James Webb Space Telescope, we're going to answer questions we don't even know yet."

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  • Writing: TERESA GUERRERO Madrid
  • Writing: ALBERTO DI LOLLI (PHOTOGRAPHY)

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  • Writing: TERESA GUERRERO Madrid

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Regarding the technical development of the Orion spacecraft, Jim Free, associate director of NASA, explained that the main challenge remains to solve the problems detected during the Artemis 1 test flight in the new solar shield of the vehicle, which is the one that will protect the crew from the high temperatures that the capsule must withstand during re-entry into the atmosphere. "We have some ideas about what could have caused the problems in the shield that protects the ship when it returns to Earth," said Free, who has been confident that they will solve it in time. In Artemis 2, he stressed, safety will be the top priority: "We will try to know as much as possible the risks during this mission to minimize them."

In the air is the question of whether Artemis 3, the mission that will take at least two astronauts to the lunar surface, can be carried out by the end of 2025, as planned. And it is that the explosion last April, of one of the key components, the Starship ship of SpaceX, during its first complete test, has been a headache to maintain this calendar: "For now we work with the objective of landing on the moon in December 2025," said Free.

The astronauts have also been asked what they do to disconnect after the hard training. "I have a family, I'm a father and husband and they understand how hard it is, but for me to get home and be able to relax is a success as well," said Victor Glover.

Christina Koch, for her part, added that they also take the opportunity to get to know each other as well as possible. "Last night, for example, we went to dinner together at a restaurant. We already feel like a family."

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