ESA and Airbus to help return astronauts to the moon

Partnership with NASA aims to be first mission to land on moon since Apollo 17

The European Space Agency has signed a contract with Airbus to build a service module for the NASA Orion spacecraft that is scheduled to return astronauts to the moon by 2024.

“NASA’s Artemis programme is returning humans to the moon with ESA’s European Service Module supplying everything needed to keep the astronauts alive on their trip in the crew module—water, air, propulsion, electricity, a comfortable temperature—as well as acting as the chassis of the spacecraft,” ESA announced on 26 May.