Orion 13
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This article or section contains information regarding a future spaceflight. Due to the nature of the content, details may change dramatically as the launch date approaches and/or more information becomes available. |
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| Mission name: | Orion 13 & LSAM 3 | ||||
| Command Module: | Orion 13 | ||||
| Lunar Module: | LSAM 3 | ||||
| Launch pad: | Launch Pad 39B | ||||
| Launch: | December 2019 | ||||
| Lunar landing: | December 2019 | ||||
| Landing: | December 2019 or January 2020 | ||||
| Duration: | ~21 days | ||||
| Orbit altitude: | ~65 nautical miles (~105 km) in lunar orbit | ||||
| Orbit inclination: | ~0 to 30 degrees | ||||
| Distance traveled: | TBD | ||||
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Orion 13 is the current name of a NASA mission, the first Constellation lunar landing in conjunction with the LSAM 3. Orion 13 is planned to be the seventh human lunar landing by NASA, the first since Apollo 17 in 1972. A landing site has not yet been chosen, but should be either at the north or at the south pole of the Moon, where NASA has decided to build a Lunar outpost, as announced on December 4, 2006.[1]
The lander would carry a habitation module which would house astronauts on the surface of the Moon and would be the first element of the base.
The mission is currently scheduled to take place in December, 2019. It will carry a crew of three to the lunar surface in the LSAM, leaving one astronaut in lunar orbit in the Orion spacecraft, similar to the Apollo practice of leaving the Apollo Command Module Pilot in orbit while the Apollo Commander and Apollo Lunar Module Pilot descended to the surface.
The mission is planned to last approximately 21 days. Orion 13 will be launched by an Ares I from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39B. It will dock in Low Earth Orbit with a package made of an Earth Departure Stage (EDS) and the third LSAM. This package will have been launched a few weeks earlier by an Ares V. The space assembly will be injected towards the Moon by the EDS.
