The Orion capsule has made its closest go above the floor of the moon and begun its journey again to Earth, capturing astonishing views of our planet on the best way
House
5 December 2022
Earth is seen as a crescent past the moon on this picture taken from the Orion spacecraft NASA
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which launched atop the House Launch System (SLS) rocket on 16 November, is heading residence. The capsule accomplished its closest go by the moon on 5 December, hurtling across the moon’s far facet and lighting up its thrusters to start the journey again to Earth.
The shut go took the capsule simply 127 kilometres above the floor of the far facet of the moon – the facet we by no means see from Earth because of the size of the moon’s orbit being tightly locked with the timing of its rotation. As Orion handed again into view of Earth, it took pictures of the crescent planet rising above the moon’s cratered floor.
If all goes nicely, Orion will return to Earth on 11 December, splashing down within the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. This can be some of the difficult components of the mission – Orion’s warmth defend can be subjected to temperatures of just about 2800°C because it plunges into Earth’s environment. Ensuring the warmth defend holds up throughout that infernal descent is without doubt one of the key targets of this take a look at flight.
If Orion proves protected, the following step would be the Artemis II mission, deliberate for 2024, during which a capsule will carry astronauts across the moon and again residence. Then, in 2025, a capsule is scheduled to take astronauts again to the floor of the moon for the primary time since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA officers hope that this mission, known as Artemis III, will mark the start of a sustained human presence on the lunar floor.
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