Without the support of Europe it would have been literally impossible.

We tend to see the space race as that. A competition in which one country comes first. In 1969 it was said that the United States defeated the Soviet Union (USSR) in the race to put humans on the Moon. Before, it had been the USSR that had prevailed by taking the first human into space.

Now, many consider that NASA has once again emerged victorious, by defeating China, which He also wanted to put his flag on our satellite. But, in reality, it has not been NASA alone that has achieved this first step towards returning to lunar territory. Other agencies are involved and, above all, we cannot forget that, without the support of Europe, these four astronauts would not be traveling to the Moon. Literally.

Three European engines. The Orion capsule is guided, directed and powered by a set of 33 engines called the European Service Module. The surname is not trivial, since It has been designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and built by Airbus under ESA guidelines. In addition, the engineers at ESTEC, ESA’s technical center located in the Netherlands, work closely with their colleagues at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, monitoring that everything is working properly with this essential piece for the proper development of the Artemis missions.

The main engine. The European Service Module has a main engine that is responsible for promoting the speed changes necessary to guide Orion properly towards the Moon. It is a space shuttle engine that has already traveled to space on 6 missions between 2000 and 2002. ESA scientists have reconditioned and restored it so that it fits perfectly into Orion and meets all the needs of this capsule.

Eight support engines. The main engine has eight auxiliary engines that intervene in the orbital corrections that are necessary for the trip to reach a successful conclusion.

24 precise motors. Finally, the European Service Module has 24 smaller engines, distributed in 6 capsules, which are responsible for driving more precise control of Orion’s movements. They can function individually or collaboratively, as needed.

A key piece at a critical moment. On the second day of Artemis II’s trip, the European Service Module starred in one of the critical moments of this trip to the Moon. This is translunar combustion by injection, a process by which the capsule is accelerated to propel itself out of Earth’s orbit and, therefore, begin the real journey to the Moon.

It’s not the first time. The European Service Module was already used on Artemis I with magnificent results. At that time the capsule was sent to the Moon unmanned. Without a doubt, the participation of four astronauts in the process makes this trip even more exciting, which continues to be possible, in large part, thanks to European intervention. Therefore, although NASA has the most press in all of this, we must not forget that it was Europe that pushed its astronauts, as well as a Canadian astronaut, to the Moon. Instead of talking about careers, we can talk about teamwork and, in the process, remember that, although some space agencies make more noise than others, those that work in the shadows are as indispensable as the rest.

Images | THAT

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