celebrate the space loo i guess

It was practice for the next moon landings which will be the start to building a moon base

>>16959225
Oh so it was Apollo 10 2.0
Cool

There is nothing in the fucking space. Where do you want to travel?

P:
"The United States Semiquincentennial, also called the Bisesquicentennial, the Sestercentennial, or the Quarter Millennium, will be the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Festivities will mark various events leading up to the Declaration's anniversary on the 250th Independence Day: July 4, 2026."

Q:
"Artemis II (April 1–11, 2026) was a crewed lunar flyby mission. It was the first crewed flight of the NASA-led Artemis program and the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972."

P probably caused Q.
It's better to finally confess than to double down.

>>16959197
gotta equal past achievements before you surpass them. because Apollo was cancelled and everything focused on LEO they have to recreate the kind of reliable system they had in Apollo. Testing the new vehicles is just part of that process of building it back again.

That the first manned flight of Orion was around the moon is actually a pretty confident move when you think that the Apollo CM flew several times both unmanned and manned in LEO before it was sent out to the moon.

>>16959467
no. Apollo 10 had the CSM stay in lunar orbit and the LM descended to about 50k ft before returning.
this was more like Apollo 8, only without the vehicle entering lunar orbit.

>>16959197
This is celebrating a return to the spirit of celestial conquest rather than the dark age of performative soiance.

I wish ESA didn't sponsor this american gloat mission at all. I wish ESA did its own moon landing.

>>16960805
You aren't capable (economically or technologically). The best you can do is support an actual space power and count on that token participation granting you a peers seat at the table out of American magnanimity.

>>16960831
ESA gave the americans everything they need to launch probes and most of the attached equipment.
If anything, it's the amerisharts that couldn't launch shit into space without Europe always bailing them out and giving them tech.
It's time to stop.

>>16960840
This is the biggest cope I've ever seen. We don't need ESA to do anything. We drag you along begrudgingly because you are our retarded cousins that can't get anything done on your own. India launches more than. Europe. Pathetic

>>16959197
Why can't you people just realize that R&D is hard and it's brand new hardware going to the moon for the first time in decades