NASA all set to test new moon rocket after 50 years. Here’s all you need to know

NASA’s new moon rocket will make its debut next week in a risky test flight before astronauts reach the lunar surface.

The 322-foot rocket will attempt to launch an empty crew capsule into lunar orbit, fifty years after NASA’s renowned Apollo moon shots.

However, the six-week plan is dangerous. The space agency still hopes to put two people on the lunar surface by the end of the year 2025, but if things go as per plan, astronauts could strap in as early as 2024 for a trip around the moon.

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NASA administrator Bill Nelson said that if things go wrong for the Artemis programme, spiralling expenses and lengthy intervals between missions will make it difficult for the agency to make a comeback.

Compared to the Saturn V rockets that launched 24 Apollo astronauts to the moon 50 years ago, the new rocket is shorter and leaner, but with 4 million kilogrammes of thrust, it is more powerful.

The new rocket, in contrast to the Saturn V’s sleek design, includes two strap-on boosters.

The rocket’s core stage will continue to fire before detaching and fragmenting when it crashes into the Pacific. A higher stage will launch the Orion spacecraft towards the moon in the two hours following lift-off.

The boosters won’t be recovered from the Atlantic for reuse; instead, they will peel away after two minutes, much as the shuttle boosters did. The core stage will continue to fire before detaching and fragmenting when it crashes into the Pacific.

A higher stage will launch the Orion spacecraft towards the moon two hours following lift-off.

The 386,000 km journey to the moon will take about a week. The capsule will enter a distant orbit with a far point of 61,000 kilometres, whizzing narrowly around the moon, reported AP.

The only drawback is that before travelling to the moon, the starship will need to refuel at a fuel station in Earth's orbit.

By 2024, a second test flight will transport four humans around the moon and back.

NASA plans to launch four more around a year later, with two of them landing at the lunar south pole. Like NASA’s Apollo spacecraft, Orion lacks a built-in lunar lander, so the space agency worked with SpaceX to supply its Starship spaceship for the first Artemis moon landing.

Musk plans to launch a starship around Earth on SpaceX’s Super Heavy Booster.

(With inputs from agenices)