NASA’s Gateway Space Station’s Halo module approaches launch

1 of 3 | Technicians at the Thales Alenia Space industrial plant in Turin, Italy, guide Gateway’s HALO module to its stress testing site. Image courtesy of Thales Alenia Space

The Gateway is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2025. In 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a $331.8 million contract to launch the first two pieces of the outpost aboard the company’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida to the moon.

In a highly elliptical orbit, the space station will come within about 1,865 miles of the moon’s surface during its closest approach and then travel 43,500 miles before returning again. According to To the European Space Agency. The complete orbit should take about a week.

The Gateway is about one-sixth the size of the International Space Station.

Thales Alenia teams directed HALO to a new location in the company’s facility to conduct pressure tests to ensure the integrity of the unit. The company is a joint venture between French technology company Thales Group and Italian defense company Leonardo.

HALO will then travel to Gilbert, Arizona, where Northrop Grumman will complete final preparation before launching into lunar orbit using the Gateway vehicle. Force and propulsion element.

Northrop received a Fixed-price contract worth $935 million From NASA in 2021

The project partners are the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in the United Arab Emirates.

In March, Dr. John B. Olansen replaces Dan Hartman, who is retiring as space station director. Olansen has been with the program since its inception in 2019.

Humans aboard the Artemis ship are scheduled to be launched to the moon no later than 2026.