Returning to the Moon

Apollo to Artemis

To
The rocket for the Apollo missions - the Saturn V (V=5 in Roman numerals) was powerful (34.5 million Newtons). But the rocket used for Artemis 1 is even more powerful (39.1 million Newtons for Artemis)! 

This blog post is geared for adults. Here's another blog post that I wrote with a children's lesson. https://steamma.blogspot.com/2022/08/counting-down-to-artemis.html?m=1

Why are we only now getting back to the Moon?

My answer:
Priorities shifted. Funding was redirected away from human exploration. This was calculated. Get the tech advanced to the point where it really is reliably safe to send people up there. The Apollo 1, Columbia, and Challenger disasters all showed that NASA needed a culture shift. You see, investigations showed that behind all of those lost lives someone somewhere in the system knew about the problems, voiced their concerns, and they were dismissed. NASA has worked hard to adopt an intense safety culture, and reporting system - and a culture of openness that allows everyone to have a voice. From their most soft spoken intern to the scientists who support the engineering endeavors.

The Apollo program showed us just how risky it was to send people to the Moon. Yes, I wish that the program hadn't been cut short, that functioning rockets had not been mothballed. I wish there had been a moon base established alongside the ISS. But this wasn't a national priority, and if it wasn't done right there would have inevitably been more lives lost.

Is humanity ready now to send more people up there? Almost. Let's make sure we understand the risks and are ready for them.

 Paradox Adventure Photography said about Artemis 1:
 It was the first ever flight by this rocket. They needed to test everything out first to be sure it’s human rated. Theory only goes so far. The math to land is still there, but the technology has changed drastically. This is an enormously complex vehicle that has to work with better precision than the finest watch. The Apollo/Saturn V rocket had over 2 million separate systems to give you a quantifiable example, and its first flights also never landed on the moon. 

The success rate of this mission was astounding. It did everything they wanted it to do, and when it was supposed to do it. That’s beyond incredible for the first flight of a rocket at all.


Check out their website here:

Smarter Every Day
Destin at Smarter Every Day put together an absolutely fascinating and inspiring comparison of Apollo vs Artemis flight plans. He also tactfully points out some of his concerns about Artemis. This is a long video, and worth every second. https://youtu.be/OoJsPvmFixU?si=kkhvF0-xfu3-qBxs

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