Artemis 3 Mission: NASA Uses Colorado Mountains to Simulate Moon Landing

NASA, in collaboration with the Army Aviation Center in Colorado, is practicing the safe landing of astronauts on the Moon. According to Axios, the American space agency is working on a project called 'Artemis' to land humans on the Moon again, and in partnership with Lockheed Martin, aims to ensure a safe landing for astronauts by simulating Colorado's mountains with lunar rocks. Colonel Nicholas Tucker, the training operations commander, emphasized the importance of addressing 'visual illusions' during Moon missions, stating, 'An astronaut may look at an area on the Moon's surface and think it is a suitable landing spot, only to realize later that there are large rocks making landing impossible.' He added, 'The Army's training program simulates a rapid landing operation in a landing area to familiarize astronauts with the Moon's appearance as part of the Artemis 3 mission.' NASA believes the decision to train at the Colorado base stems from lessons learned during the Apollo 11 mission, where spatial disorientation caused confusion among astronauts and led to issues during the landing operation. Artemis 3, the third flight of the Artemis space program, is set to launch to the Moon in 2025 (1404 in the Iranian calendar), marking the return of humans to the Moon's surface after 53 years. Artemis 3 will land in the southern region of the Moon, with two astronauts expected to stay on the lunar surface for about two weeks. The Artemis 1 and 2 missions will be conducted without human presence.