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CAP CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA has chosen SpaceX to deliver the first two segments of the Gateway space station to orbit the moon for its upcoming Artemis program, which aims to get astronauts back to the moon. The elements will be launched atop a Falcon Heavy rocket sometime in 2024.
The flight, which is the second to be awarded to SpaceX this week (the first was a contract worth $ 98.8 million to launch NASA’s SPHEREx astrophysical mission) will carry the power modules and living area of the bridge. Launched from Station 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the mission will cost NASA $ 331.8 million and is expected to take off no earlier than May 2024.
Once placed in lunar orbit, the gateway will serve as an outpost for astronauts and moon-bound equipment as part of NASA’s Artemis program. About one-sixth the size of the International Space Station, the bridge will support research investigations, crew and expeditions to the lunar surface.
Related: See stunning photos from SpaceX Falcon Heavy’s first night launch
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The outpost will serve as a docking station for visiting spacecraft, such as NASA’s Orion spacecraft, and will orbit the Moon, tens of thousands of miles away. It will be a pit stop on the way to the lunar surface. NASA recently suspended its search for a human landing system, which will transport astronauts from the front door to the surface of the moon. The agency is expected to resume consideration of these offers soon.
The pair of modules that SpaceX will carry into space are the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and the Housing and Logistics Outpost (HALO), which are respectively built by Maxar Technologies and Northrop Grumman Space. Systems.
The EPI will provide power to the bridge, enabling communications and helping the station move through various lunar orbits, while HALO will give astronauts a place to stay on their way to the moon. Astronauts to the Moon will launch aboard crew pods, like Orion, and HALO will provide docking support for these vehicles.
Related: US still determined to land Artemis astronauts on the moon
The European Space Agency will provide the service module for the bridge, which includes key survival elements, including consumables such as oxygen and water, as well as electricity and temperature controls. This material should be launched during the second flight planned by NASA of its new mega-socket, the Space Launch System (SLS). This mission, called Artemis 2, will be the first crewed mission in the Artemis program. Four astronauts are planned to be launched on a loop around the moon in 2023, in preparation for a 2024 moon landing with the Artemis 3 mission. The first SLS flight, scheduled for launch in late 2021, will be an unmanned test flight around the Moon.
ESA officials said the bridge’s life support systems will be able to accommodate visiting astronauts for 90 days at a time. NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas will manage the Gateway program, while the agency’s Launch Services Program (LSP) at the Kennedy Space Center will manage the launch.
Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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