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| Altair 5 |
Mission insignia
 |
| Mission statistics |
| Mission name |
Altair 5 |
| Launch pad |
Launch Pad 39A |
| Launch date |
TBD |
| Landing |
TBD |
| Mission duration |
~75 ± 10 days w/ 7 days on lunar surface |
| Orbital altitude |
~200-250 nautical miles (~320-400 km) in LEO |
| Orbital inclination |
~28.5 degrees in LEO |
| Distance traveled |
TBD |
| Related missions |
|
|
Altair 5 is a designation for the Altair that will attempt to make, during the Orion 21 mission, the third Constellation lunar landing, and the ninth U.S. manned landing. Unlike Orion 17/Altair 3 or Orion 19/Altair 4, which would be treated as test flights for the new Orion spacecraft and LSAM lander, Orion 21/Altair 5 would most likely be the first "operational" landing flight in which all four astronauts will descend onto the lunar surface, most likely in the lunar polar region to begin the construction of a permanent lunar base.
Altair 5 is currently scheduled to take place in late 2020 or early 2021, a year after the planned Orion 17/Altair 3 mission. 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 21 crew.
Like the two previous missions, the Orion 21 mission is planned to last approximately 21 days total, Altair will be on the lunar surface for up to 7 days, and will be discarded after the landing party returns to lunar orbit. Like Altair 4, Altair 5 will be discarded in lunar orbit and will most likely be deliberately crashed into the lunar surface, most likely on the lunar far side. This may be done to keep "lunar traffic" to a minimum and to allow NASA to calibrate any lunar seismometers left on the Moon's surface.
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