Altair 3

Infobox Space mission
mission_name = Altair 3
insignia = Altair insignia.jpg
launch_vehicle = Ares V
launch_pad = Launch Pad 39A
launch = November or December 2019
landing = December 2019
duration = ~45 ± 10 days w/ 7 days on lunar surface
altitude = ~200-250 nautical miles (~320-400 km) in LEO
inclination = ~28.5 degrees in LEO
distance = TBD
crew_photo =
crew_caption =
previous = Orion 15 & Altair 2
next = Orion 19 & Altair 4

Altair 3 is the current designation for the Altair spacecraft that will attempt to make, during the Orion 17 mission, the second Constellation lunar landing, the eighth manned landing in human history, assuming no other space programs reach the moon before then. A landing site has not yet been chosen. [ cite web | url = http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5335 | title = $700m gap threatens major delays to Ares test flights/development | publisher = NASAspaceflight.com|date=2008-01-18|accessdate=2008-02-01]

Altair 3 is currently scheduled to take place in late November or early December 2019. It will be launched atop the powerful Ares V SDLV from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A, and will be linked up in low earth orbit, along with the Earth Departure Stage, by the Orion 17 crew two to four weeks later.

While the Orion 17 mission is planned to last approximately 21 days total, Altair 3 will be on the lunar surface for up to 7 days, and will be discarded after the landing party returns to lunar orbit. After Altair 3 is discarded, it will be left in lunar orbit, in which it will either crash into the lunar surface after its orbit decays (as it happened with the LM "Eagle"), or it will be deliberately crashed into the surface as NASA did with all of the remaining (except for the LM "Aquarius") Apollo LMs from Apollos 12 to 17. The deliberate crashing of all of the LMs by NASA was used to calibrate the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP) seismometers left on the lunar surface.

ee also

*List of Constellation missions

Notes