SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On September 12, 1962, President John F. Kennedy stood in the middle of the football field at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and declared "we choose to go to the moon." And in July 1969, we did. But we haven't been back since Gene Cernan left the lunar surface in December of 1972.
Nearly 60 years to the day that Kennedy gave what came to be known as the 'moon speech,' NASA is preparing to send its next generation rocket back into lunar orbit.
Dustin Gohmert, the NASA Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager on Friday excitedly said, "The excitement level is really off the charts right now. Everyone is getting ready last-minute details and preparations for Monday morning and we can't wait."
But did you know that without the engineers at Sacramento-based Aerojet Rocketdyne, Artemis 1 wouldn't even be leaving the ground?
That's because Aerojet Rocketdyne's engines – or more technically, motors – are driving a large majority of the rocket, from the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft. And many of them were initially used on the space shuttle program.
"The space shuttle main engines. So there used to be three of these on the base of each space shuttle. There are now four of these hanging off the bottom of the SLS rocket," explained David Daniewicz, the Orion Production Chief Engineer for Aerojet Rocketdyne. "There were two smaller engines hanging off either side of the space shuttle and those engines were used for maneuvering out in space. Those engines were originally designed, developed, and qualified right here in Sacramento back in the 70s and 80s. They are now being repurposed for service, or for use as the main engine on the service module. So that'd be the engine that drives the space capsule all the way to its destination and then back to Earth."
Numerous other motors power Artemis, such as the jettison motor to help lift the launch abort system off of the spacecraft and allow for travel to the moon.
But why are we going back to the moon? Why now? Gohmert says simply that it has been a long time coming.
"The main objective to go back to the moon is to build on that science of human survival and deep space, but also to explore the resources of the moon in the histories of the moon to learn not only about it, but what it can tell us about our planet, about our solar system, about our origins, and how to go beyond that it is it's close enough that it's achievable."
While in lunar orbit, Artemis 1 will travel further from Earth than any rocket intended for humans, breaking the record set by the astronauts of the ill-fated Apollo 13.
And although it is uncrewed – except for a dummy nicknamed Moonikin Campos after an Apollo 13 engineer – it is the test flight for Artemis 2, planned for 2024 that will carry humans into lunar orbit.
Artemis 3 will land astronauts back on the moon for the first time since 1972. And eventually, beyond.
"We're going to put the first woman on the moon, we're going to put the first persons of color on the moon, it's going to be... I think it's a milestone that we can all share in worldwide really this time," said Gohmert. "The Artemis mission’s goal is to put humans into space with a sustained lunar presence and ultimately build up hopefully one day to a sustained Martian presence. And you know, the sky is not the limit maybe beyond that."
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