NASA and SpaceX have conducted qualification testing of the docking system that will connect the latter’s landing platform to the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts for the Artemis III mission.
The 10-day test was carried out at NASA’s Johnson Space Center using a simulator to assess the docking system’s ability to link Orion with the Starship Human Landing System, or HLS, that will bring astronauts to the lunar surface, NASA said Wednesday.
The NASA-SpaceX team performed over 200 docking scenarios at various speeds and angles for the Starship HLS docking platform, which was based on the flight-proven Dragon 2 active docking system.
Orion will transport astronauts from Earth to lunar orbit where they will move to the lander to descend to the moon’s surface. The astronauts will transfer back to Orion once surface activities are complete.
For future Artemis missions, astronauts onboard the Orion spacecraft will transfer to Starship via the Gateway lunar space station.
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