"This year was historic when it comes to space exploration and astronomical research. With the creation of the James Webb telescope, successful launch of Artemis I, the successful DART test run, and more."--Mila Boyden, 7th Grade
This year was historic when it comes to space exploration and astronomical research. With the creation of the James Webb telescope, successful launch of Artemis I, the successful DART test run, and more.
-Artemis I-
Starting off with the most recent NASA mission the Artemis I launch. The Artemis I was launched Tuesday November 15th, at 10:47 PST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis I is an uncrewed launch of the Orion spacecraft. During the mission, the Orion spacecraft will circle the moon once before returning back to earth. Artemis I is the first step in a 5 stage mission (for now) of which the goal is to create a long lasting human presence on the lunar surface, and land the first woman and person of color on the moon.
-James Webb Telescope-
The next achievement was the James Webb telescope. The James Webb telescope, named after a former NASA administrator, is an amazing invention. Promotion technological advancement and astronomical research. It captures astounding images which allows astronomers to see things that they never would've been able to see with the human eye or any other telescope. It took 30 years to build this telescope, but as seen in the pictures below all the hard work was definitely worth it.
-Artemis I-
Starting off with the most recent NASA mission the Artemis I launch. The Artemis I was launched Tuesday November 15th, at 10:47 PST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis I is an uncrewed launch of the Orion spacecraft. During the mission, the Orion spacecraft will circle the moon once before returning back to earth. Artemis I is the first step in a 5 stage mission (for now) of which the goal is to create a long lasting human presence on the lunar surface, and land the first woman and person of color on the moon.
-James Webb Telescope-
The next achievement was the James Webb telescope. The James Webb telescope, named after a former NASA administrator, is an amazing invention. Promotion technological advancement and astronomical research. It captures astounding images which allows astronomers to see things that they never would've been able to see with the human eye or any other telescope. It took 30 years to build this telescope, but as seen in the pictures below all the hard work was definitely worth it.
According to the article How the James Webb Space Telescope's Images are Made “The JWST is so sensitive that it's able to differentiate between bands of infrared light in much the same way our eyes can see different bands of optical light — which we perceive as colors.”
-Starship-
Next up is the most powerful rocket ever built also known as The Starship. The Starship built by SpaceX is around 5,000 tons (11,000,000 lbs), 30 ft wide, 390 ft tall, and uses about 1200 lbs of fuel.
-Starship-
Next up is the most powerful rocket ever built also known as The Starship. The Starship built by SpaceX is around 5,000 tons (11,000,000 lbs), 30 ft wide, 390 ft tall, and uses about 1200 lbs of fuel.

Basically it's the biggest rocket ever made. The Starship was certainly an ambitious goal for SpaceX, especially because no one's ever built a rocket as large before. The Starship will be used in NASA’s Artemis mission as a reusable vessel to carry astronauts and cargo to and from the moon and maybe even Mars in mission stages 3 and 4.
-DART-
Last but certainly not least is the DART mission. DART stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test. The DART mission's goal is planetary defense. Specifically protecting earth against incoming asteroids on course to collide with Earth.
The DART works by slamming itself into an incoming asteroid with such force that it will knock the asteroid off its collision course. This strategy uses kinetic impact technology. According to NASA.gov “Kinetic impaction involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an approaching near-earth object. This could deflect the asteroid into a different trajectory, steering it away from the Earth’s orbital path.”
Now the DART system isn’t so powerful that the asteroid would double back but it is powerful enough to slow its orbital speed by a little bit so that it will slow down and go off course. According to an article on Space.Com “DART deliberately impacted the moonlet Dimorphos at speeds of 4.1 miles per second (6.6 km/s). That's an eye-popping 14,760 mph (23,760 kph).An impact at this speed should have caused the moonlet's orbital speed to change by a fraction of a percent and this shift should be enough to change its orbital period by several minutes.” The DART mission is important because it is the first ever planetary defense mission of which the goal is asteroid deflection.
This was a really interesting year for astronomers and space nerds. For all those space nerds out there here are a few space missions and events to look for in 2023 and 2024. NASA plans to launch the Psyche spacecraft in 2023, in 2024 NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to happen. SpaceX will have their first commercial spacewalk in 2023 plus some rocket launches such as the Falcon 9. 2022 was a very important year for space travel and people are looking forward to many more years like it to come. Have a spacetacular new year everyone!