COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As Artemis II sends humans farther away from Earth than ever before, future lunar astronauts will be using Colorado’s mountains as a moon lander flight training course.
In the works since 2021 and certified in August last year, the course will bring astronauts to fly helicopters in Colorado’s difficult mountain terrain to prepare for the intricate challenges of landing on the lunar South Pole.
“The extreme environment we have access to is mountains in Colorado. There's thinner air, jagged terrain, lots of varying wind conditions,” said NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei in a NASA training video. “These are ways to help us get ready to land people on the moon as part of the Artemis program.”
NASA partnered with the Colorado Army National Guard and trains out of their High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site near Gypsum.
Astronauts are paired with trained HAATS instructors, flying in a range of aircraft including LUH-72 Lakotas, CH-47 Chinooks, and UH-60 Black Hawks.
The certification, NASA said, marks an important milestone in crew training for Artemis missions to the moon, when astronauts will use a commercial human landing system to land on the lunar surface.
SpaceX and Blue Origin will ultimately provide the human landing systems to transport astronauts to and from the moon’s surface.
Each industry provider is responsible for training the astronauts on their respective lander, but the Colorado mountain course provides foundational training.
Once astronauts land on the moon’s South Pole, they’ll encounter deep craters, sloped connecting ridges, and harsh and flat lighting conditions.
Colorado’s northern mountains offer a similar visual illusion and flight environment to the moon, NASA said.
“NASA is using a three-pronged approach with motion-based simulation, in-flight lunar landing analog training, and in-flight lunar simulation to build out its foundational training for Artemis Moon landings,” said NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock in August last year, who helped coordinate the training program.
“Helicopters at or above 10,000 feet are not really efficient in the thin air, forcing us into operating with very thin power margins similar to the Apollo astronauts having to manage energy and momentum to land safely. The operations along with the terrain at the HAATS course in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains provide a valuable, real-world opportunity for Artemis astronauts to practice flying and landing in conditions similar to maneuvering a lander in the lunar environment,” Wheelock said.
Teams can train year-round using the course and, depending on the season, the dust or snow can create visual obstructions, which is similar to the lunar dust that Artemis missions will encounter.
“Artemis astronauts who will land on the Moon will need to master crew coordination and communication with one another,” said Paul Felker, acting deputy director of flight operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in a September release.
“Much like they will on the Moon, astronaut teams are learning how to work together efficiently in a stressful environment to identify hazards, overcome degraded visual environments, and evaluate risks to successfully land,” Felker said.
