It is time to add Metallica-inspired fuel to the subsequent generation of moon missions.
A brand new video from NASA features Metallica’s “Fuel” alongside epic footage of Artemis 1, the mission that debuted the agency’s huge latest moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).
“Give me fuel! Give me fire!” the award-winning metal band sings on top of their characteristic guitar power chords. The YouTube video also shows Artemis 1’s SLS flying high into the night sky, from different angles, over and once again.
Artemis 1 was successful, sending an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back. NASA is now gearing up for Artemis 2, which can send 4 people across the moon no sooner than November 2024. In April, NASA named the 4 astronauts who will likely be on board: the agency’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen.
Metallica, a heavy metal pioneer founded in 1981, is certainly one of Rolling Stone’s top 100 artists of all time. And at the very least certainly one of the band members is a fan of flying in space.
Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett told Sirius XM in 2017 that the band has “feelers” out for enjoying together in space, adding that he at all times desired to play “on the space shuttle, possibly the moon.”
“I feel we have shown over the previous couple of a long time that that sense of spirit, that sense of adventure still burns in us,” Hammett added, in a report concerning the interview by our sister publication Louder Sound. “We might like to, and would bend over backwards to, make anything out of the abnormal occur. So watch this space.”
We have now no updates on their flight plans since then, however the official account for Metallica proudly tweeted Thursday (July 13) that “fuel” is certainly one of the things they now have in common with NASA’s Artemis moon missions.
What do now we have in common with @NASA’s #Artemis missions to the Moon?“Fuel” & fire!Learn more about how NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket & Orion spacecraft will send 4 astronauts on a lunar flyby across the Moon for NASA’s Artemis II mission at https://t.co/sjuj3Veyoj. pic.twitter.com/1nQPOf6qMcJuly 13, 2023
After Artemis 2, NASA plans to place people on the lunar surface starting with Artemis 3. The south pole mission will land in a potentially water-rich zone of the moon no sooner than 2025 or 2026. That date partly will depend on how briskly SpaceX can get moving on its Starship system, which is tasked with landing the Artemis 3 astronauts on the moon.
Starship failed in its effort to achieve space this past April on its first-ever fully stacked launch; SpaceX issued a self-destruct command a number of minutes into flight after the vehicle experienced several anomalies.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing concerns concerning the environmental impact of Starship launches, after the debut mission sent dust and debris flying miles across the launch area. No official second launch date is yet available from SpaceX.
Related: SpaceX Starship problems more likely to delay Artemis 3 moon mission to 2026, NASA says
Unlike Apollo, Artemis will feature international astronauts in addition to NASA flyers. Canada is just not only going to fly on Artemis 2 but may additionally be on board Artemis 4 and 6. The European Space Agency has commitments for astronauts on board Artemis 3 and 4, and a 3rd undesignated Artemis mission as well.
NASA has signed 27 nations to its Artemis Accords that aim not only to bring partners on for moon exploration, but to ascertain international norms for peaceful exploration. In exchange for flight opportunities, certain countries are committing hardware or other resources for Artemis and the planned Gateway space station that NASA hopes to have flying across the moon later within the 2020s.