GOING BACK TO THE MOON

This year, NASA will take the first step in returning astronauts to the lunar surface

- Colin Stuart

It’s been a long time since a human voice bellowed from the lunar surface. This year marks half a century since Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan left the last footprints on the Moon in 1972, and a lot has changed since then. That year the first scientific handheld calculator was released; today we carry more computing power in our pocket than that which safely guided the Apollo astronauts to the Moon and back.

The Space launch system

It takes a lot of power to send 26 tonnes worth of cargo to the Moon

1 FOUR RS-25 ENGINES

NASA claims they’re the most efficient engines ever built.

2 SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERS

Each one is the height of a 17-storey building.

3 CORE STAGE

Contains almost 3 million litres of propellant, enough to power the engines for eight minutes.

4 ORION STAGE ADAPTER

Where small satellites are stored ahead of delivery to deep space.

5 ORION SPACECRAFT

The living quarters for the astronauts that will fly on future Artemis missions.

6 INTERIM CRYOGENIC PROPULSION STAGE

The juice needed for the final push towards the Moon once Artemis 1 leaves Earth orbit.