NASA will land astronauts on the Moon surface after a long time. For this, it is working with Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX. SpaceX’s Starship Rocket will make a manned landing. Thus, Artemis III will play an important role in its mission. Because the Starship is so tall, astronauts will need an elevator to get to the surface. Work for this has already started. Astronauts of the Artemis III mission experience Starship’s crew elevator. Here are the details…
NASA’s astronauts are testing Starship’s crew elevator!
NASA plans the first crewed Artemis landing in 2025. NASA will partner with SpaceX for the Artemis III mission. Elon Musk’s private flight company is working on the Human Landing System (HLS), a special version of the Starship Rocket that will play an important role in the upcoming mission. But there is still much work to be done. The two astronauts helped test the crew elevator, a vital part of Starship HLS.
The Starship Rocket has much more power and payload capacity than the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. The Starship Rocket will be 50 meters tall when it is freed from the first stage of the Super Heavy. However, the crew compartment is near the top of the vehicle. Therefore, the Starship Rocket needs an elevator to carry HLS’s astronauts from the nose to the lunar surface.
SpaceX has built a prototype of the planned HLS elevator at its facility in California. The prototype of the HLS elevator features a full-scale basket with working mechanical components and controls. The astronauts wore spacesuits that approximated the range of motion and mobility the crew could expect on the Moon’s surface. In this way, the test became more realistic and more successful. On the actual mission, the Artemis III crew will wear new advanced spacesuits developed by Axiom Space. But these clothes are not ready yet.
This testing gave astronauts the opportunity to evaluate controls such as door latches, ramp deployment interfaces, cargo storage and other design elements. This feedback is extremely valuable to the SpaceX team. Because the company is developing the equipment that will enable astronauts to reach the lunar surface with Starship.
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