47. Artemis 1

It has been 53 years since the Apollo missions landed people on the moon. But now we are going back to the moon with the new Artemis 1 mission that brought the unmanned Orion spacecraft to the moon and back.

The Artemis 1 rocket was the most powerful rocket ever launched, it was even more powerful than the amazing Saturn V Rocket that caused earthquakes across the USA. The solid rocket boosters alone burned 6 tons of fuel per second! It generated 8.4 million pounds of thrust.

Artemis' rocket boosters alone were approximately 45 metres high (150 feet) and weighed 1.6 million pounds (725,747 kg) each! The whole rocket was around 64 metres high and weighed the same as 400 elephants (2,540,000 kg). It was heavy!

Artemis 1 was named after the Greek Goddess of hunting, nature, animals, wilderness and the moon, Artemis. She was the daughter of Zeus (the king of the gods) and her twin brother was Apollo.

Right now the Orion spacecraft has completed it's journey around the moon. It took amazing photos of Earth when it was orbiting the moon. Last Sunday it splashed down into the pacific ocean to be recovered.

In 2024 NASA is hoping to send humans back to the moon with the Artemis 2 mission. It will be the first time people will step on a celestial body other than earth in more than 50 years.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Artemis! To watch my youtube videos press this link and go to Spotify or any of the other podcast apps to listen to my podcast, Give Me Space with Henry Perraton.

Until next time, Give Me Space!