Nine women are keeping their fingers crossed to be able to achieve something which has never been achieved by any woman in the history of womankind – to be able to strut about on the surface of the moon.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is preparing nine women astronauts for a 2024-2025 moon landing from which one woman will get the opportunity to walk on the moon. However the possibility of dark horse joining in later cannot be ruled out.
The names of the nine women astronauts being Kate Rubins, who has had stint on International Space Station, Christina Koch an astronaut who has been in space for nearly a yearand walked in space, Jessica Meir a biologist , who has also made one spaceflight and walked in space.
Then there is astronaut Anne McClain from US Army who has made space flights and walked in space.
Stephanie Wilson who has been an astronaut since 1996 and made three flights on space shuttle missions.
Then there are four first timers too who have not been to space like Nicole Mann, who became astronaut in 2013, Kayla Barron from Navy, Jasmin Moghbeli a helicopter pilot from the US Marine Corps, and Jessica Watkins , a geologist specialising in Mars missions.
Who walked on the moon so far?
Being able to walk on the moon for a woman will be to break the ultimate glass ceiling as only 12 astronauts all men have so far walked on moon in all of human history which includes Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Alan Bean, Gene Cernan, Pete Conrad, Moss Duke, James Irwin, Stuart Roosa, Jack Schmidt, Dave Scotts, Al Shepard, and Jim Young, and all during the Apollo mission.
Artemis is the new era of exploration for NASA and the name Artemis has been taken from Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon. When they land, American astronauts will step foot where no human has ever been before: the moon’s South Pole..
With Artemis missions, NASA plans to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.
NASA plans to collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the moon.
According to NASA “We will use what we learn on and around the moon to take the next giant leap: sending the
According to Jim Bridensite Administrator National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “Our work to catalyze the U.S. space economy with public-private partnerships has made it possible to accomplish more than ever before.”
On Monday, he said, NASA is delivering more missions, more science, and more innovation at a better value for the American taxpayer than at any point in the agency’s history and with half the buying power than 1964, when Apollo development was at its peak. We thank the President, the Congress, the American taxpayers, and the emerging space industry for the combined efforts to strengthen our nation’s space program. Under the Artemis program, humanity will explore regions of the moon never visited before, uniting people around the unknown, the never seen, and the once impossible.
We will build a longterm presence on the moon by the end of the decade, he added.
Jim Bridensite hoped to “use the moon as the stepping stone for our next greatest leap—human exploration of Mars.”
“It has been almost 50 years since astronauts last walked on the lunar surface during the Apollo program, and since then the robotic exploration of deep space has seen decades of technological advancement and scientific discoveries. For the last 20 years, humans have continuously lived and worked aboard the International Space Station 250 miles above Earth, preparing for the day we move farther into the solar system. Sending human explorers 250,000 miles to the moon, then 140 million miles to Mars, requires a bold vision, effective program management, funding for modern systems development and mission operations, and support from all corners of our great nation as well as our partners across the globe. NASA has been fine-tuning the plan to achieve that bold vision since the president called on the agency in December 2017 to lead a human return to the moon and beyond with commercial and international partners.”
Spacecraft Orion will deliver its crew to lunar orbit. The commercially developed lander that will take the crew to the lunar surface will be capable of docking directly to Orion for crew transfer for early Artemis missions.On the surface, the crew will wear the new exploration extravehicular mobility unit or xEMU spacesuit as they explore the surface for about a week before returning to Orion for the trip home to Earth.
Artemis III will take the first woman and next man to walk on the surface of the moon after rigorous testing accumulating two million miles in space during Artemis I and II explorations.
Landing site for Artemis III astronauts
The exact landing site for Artemis III astronauts depends on several factors, including the specific science objectives and the launch date. High-resolution data received from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided incredible views and detailed mapping of the lunar Artist’s rendering of astronauts conducting science and exploration activities on the lunar surface. The agency is working with the global science community to study different regions that provide key desired traits: access to significant sunlight, which provides minimal temperature variations and potentially the only power source; continuous line-of-sight to Earth for mission support communications; mild grading and surface debris for safe landing and walking or roving mobility; and close proximity to permanently shadowed regions, some of which are believed to contain resources such as water ice.
The crew will collect a variety of samples to return to Earth for later research: rock samples to help date the sequence of impact events on the moon; core tube samples to capture ancient solar wind trapped in regolith layers; and paired samples of material within and outside a permanently shadowed region to characterize the presence of volatiles and assess geotechnical differences between materials inside and outside of permanent shadows.
While on the surface, crew will live in the cabin of the ascent vehicle—the upper part of the landing system that they will use to get back to lunar orbit when the surface expedition concludes. NASA requires a minimum of two moonwalks during the Artemis III surface expedition.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
