Artemis 1 vs Apollo 17: 50 years apart, which was the greater challenge?

December 9, 2022

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Packed on board NASA’s Orion spacecraft, now on its method again from orbiting the moon, is a small badge representing the final mission to land astronauts on the lunar floor.

The Apollo 17 mission patch, which was flown on the uncrewed Artemis 1 capsule at the request (opens in new tab) of the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Air and House Museum, is a memento from the 1972 flight that noticed Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt turn into the eleventh and twelfth people to stroll on the moon, whereas their crewmate Ron Evans remained in lunar orbit. It was the sixth and, thus far, last time astronauts stepped foot on a world apart from Earth.

The three-inch (7.6 centimeters) emblem will arrive back on Earth on Sunday (Dec. 11), which by coincidence shall be 50 years to the day since Cernan and Schmitt landed (opens in new tab) within the Taurus-Littrow valley to start a report 75 hours on the moon.

Associated: Photos from NASA’s Apollo moon missions

The Nationwide Air and House Museum’s memento Apollo 17 mission patch that’s aboard NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission. (Picture credit score: Smithsonian)

Orion’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere is a essential take a look at of the spacecraft’s warmth protect. It’s NASA’s high goal for the 25.5-day Artemis 1 mission to show that the capsule is able to return astronauts to the moon. If all goes to plan, the Artemis 2 mission will launch with a crew of 4 on a lunar flyby mission, adopted by the Artemis 3 crew making the primary human moon touchdown since Apollo 17.

“The present Artemis program is not without its challenges (opens in new tab); Apollo did not remedy all these challenges. We had a special method on the time and an method that labored,” stated Schmitt, Apollo 17’s lunar module pilot, in a NASA interview (opens in new tab) earlier this 12 months. “Artemis must make it possible for they’re arising with an structure, as they wish to say, that truly will work.”

The higher problem

With the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 17 mission coinciding with Artemis 1, the query arises: Which is (or was) the higher problem, safely returning a brand new spacecraft from the moon for the primary time or touchdown a spacecraft on the moon for the sixth?

“That is my sixty fifth mission supporting human spaceflight, and flight testing is my jam. I really like flight testing,” Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis mission supervisor and a former space shuttle and International Space Station flight director, stated throughout a press convention on Thursday (Dec. 8). “I’d say that the primary time you do something is tougher than a repeat, however that does not account for brand spanking new adjustments or targets or tougher targets that happen on later flights.”

“It is a troublesome query to reply, as a result of [the landing of] Apollo 17 was one of many farthest off the equator of the moon relative to the opposite Apollo touchdown websites. And the farther you bought away from the equator with the Apollo structure, it made for a way more troublesome mission to perform,” he stated.

Graph showing the extent that the Orion spacecraft's range can be extended with a skip entry, compared to the range that Apollo was able to fly with a direct entry.

Graph displaying the extent that the Orion spacecraft’s vary could be prolonged with a skip entry, in comparison with the vary that Apollo was in a position to fly with a direct entry. (Picture credit score: NASA)

Not that the Artemis 1 mission does not have its personal complexities. Past being the primary time that an Orion spacecraft has returned to Earth (opens in new tab) at lunar velocities, it’ll additionally reenter Earth’s ambiance utilizing a special method than Apollo or every other human-rated spacecraft earlier than it.

“The ‘skip reentry’ has a decrease profile than a direct or ballistic reentry within the quantity of deceleration that you just put not solely on the spacecraft, however on the passengers, the astronauts driving on board,” Sarafin stated.

Like skipping a rock throughout a lake, Orion will dip into Earth’s higher ambiance and use the ensuing stress, together with the raise generated by its capsule design, to skip again out. It can then plunge again into the ambiance for its second and last descent underneath parachutes to a splashdown.

“One other necessary facet of the skip entry is, it permits us to focus on a single touchdown website,” stated Judd Frieling, entry flight director for the Artemis 1 mission. “By various what we name the azimuth — the path at which the crew module flies again to the goal — we’re at all times in a position to slim our operations to that touchdown zone.”

“In the event you compare that to the Apollo missions (opens in new tab), the place the U.S. Navy was deployed all around the Pacific Ocean, this helps each from operational and effectivity standpoints by at all times concentrating on the identical spot,” he stated.

Though it’s a first, Frieling and his workforce in Mission Management have practiced for this second so many occasions they really feel they’ll overcome any problem thrown at them.

“Now we have finished it so many occasions in observe and in failure situations that in lots of respects it looks like we have finished this many occasions earlier than,” he stated. “So we count on the sudden.”

Associated: 10 strange things Artemis 1 took to the moon

Making it look simple

“Apollo made it look simple when it wasn’t,” stated Michael Neufeld, a curator within the space historical past division of the Nationwide Air and House Museum, in an interview with collectSPACE.com. “It seemed so much simpler after they’d finished it six occasions.”

Apollo 17 may have come the closest (opens in new tab) to reaching operational standing of any of the Apollo missions, however that was as a result of the astronauts had been extremely educated they usually additionally had a little bit of luck that nothing significantly failed, Neufeld stated. However the stakes had been additionally completely different. If Artemis 1 fails, it’s a setback for this system. On Apollo 17, nevertheless, lives had been additionally at stake.

The Apollo 17 lunar module seen from the command module as it began its journey to land on the moon on Dec. 11, 1972.

The Apollo 17 lunar module seen from the command module because it started its journey to land on the moon on Dec. 11, 1972. (Picture credit score: NASA)

“Any moon touchdown was an affair requiring all of the gear to work proper,” stated Neufeld. “By the point of Apollo 17, the car was higher understood, however the mission was more difficult. They did a whole lot of issues to attempt to make the touchdown and the challenges extra possible, however definitely it was by no means not harmful at some stage.”

As an alternative, Artemis’ biggest challenges could also be what comes after it lands, as NASA seeks to renew what Apollo began however in a fewer variety of steps.

“One of many notable variations between Apollo and Artemis is the maturation of applied sciences,” stated Neufeld, referring to the 4 crewed Apollo missions that got here earlier than the primary moon touchdown. “This quick course [with Artemis] going from one uncrewed take a look at to 1 crewed take a look at flight across the moon, after which they’re speculated to go on to a touchdown? That strikes me as dangerous. I hope it really works.”

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