India, beating out Russia and China, was hailed by NASA for landing on the moon’s south pole first.
Russia and China have not hailed or acknowledged India’s achievement.
India has emerged as a space power, and the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s safe landing near the South Pole is evidence of the country’s advancements in the field. The mission symbolizes India’s growing scientific, engineering, technology, and manufacturing capacity.
With this newfound development, India is on its way to becoming an industrial superpower. The rover and station should allow for more precise measurements of the composition of the lunar crust, especially near the proposed lunar base site at the south pole. Many nations and private firms are looking to the area for potential fuel, oxygen, and water supplies for future astronaut flights.
To symbolize its planned return to the moon by 2025, NASA has selected the name Artemis, the Greek moon goddess. NASA’s deep space exploration system, comprising the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center, will undergo its first integrated flight test, Artemis 1, previously known as Exploration Mission-1. This endeavor will lay the groundwork for future human space travel and prove NASA’s dedication to the goal of human colonization of space. Over three weeks, the spaceship will be 280,000 miles from Earth, or many thousands of kilometers beyond the moon. With people on board, the mission will put Orion’s life support systems to the test to set up a permanent lunar settlement by 2028.
The Artemis II mission is the United States’ first lunar expedition in half a century, and it will include Victor Glover, the first black astronaut. He is one of fifteen African Americans chosen for astronaut training. NASA is planning a moon landing mission called Artemis III, which, if successful, may pave the way for a mission to Mars.
In 2020, Christopher Koch will be the first African American to complete a circumlunar flight with NASA. Koch, at the age of 44, holds the records for the longest time spent in space by a woman (328 days) and the first female spacewalk (2019). She did not become an astronaut by following a ‘checklist’ but by following her interests, including rock climbing and sailing. Koch is now participating in NASA’s Artemis II mission, which will blast out from Kennedy Space Center atop NASA’s most powerful rocket.
The 355 astronauts launched into space by NASA include 55 women and 12 males who have orbited the moon. Koch fell in love with the area once she learned she would join the Artemis I crew in 2020. If the mission is successful, it will be the first time NASA has visited the moon in half a century, and a second mission to put humans there is scheduled for 2025.
