The historic Artemis I mission, which is sending an unmanned spacecraft on an unprecedented trip around the moon, is now on the final leg of its historic journey.
Orion, as NASA’s new space capsule is called, made another pass over the moon’s surface on Monday morning, capturing views of notable lunar sites, including some Apollo landing sites. The spacecraft passed just 128.7 kilometers above the lunar surface, its second close flyby of the moon.
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After that, Orion fired its main engine for about three and a half minutes – the longest burn performed on its voyage so far. Engine burnout put the capsule on its final path home, beginning the last leg of its 25-and-a-half-day journey.
The Artemis I mission took off on November 16, when NASA’s rocket launched the Orion capsule into space, cementing its status as the most powerful operational launch vehicle ever built. The rocket’s thrust exceeded that of the Saturn V rocket, which powered 20th century moon landings, by 15%.
Orion broke away from the rocket after reaching space and has since been on a journey circumnavigating the moon. About a week ago, the capsule entered what is called a “far retrograde orbit” around the moon, allowing it to rotate more than 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon. That’s farther than any spacecraft designed to transport humans has flown.
The spacecraft is now configured to traverse the 384,400-kilometer void between the Moon and Earth. It is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on December 11, a process that will create enough pressure to heat its exterior to over 2,760 degrees Celsius. If there were astronauts on board, they would be protected by a heat shield.
Upon reentry, Orion will be traveling at 32,187 kilometers per hour, or more than 26 times the speed of sound. All of that energy will be dispersed as the capsule plummets back into Earth’s dense inner atmosphere and then releases its parachutes to slow its descent even further before crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
NASA has been preparing for this mission for over a decade. Upon its successful completion, the space agency will look to choose a crew to fly the Artemis II mission, which could lift off in 2024. Artemis II will aim to send astronauts on a similar trajectory to Artemis I, flying around the moon but not landing. on its surface.
That could pave the way for the Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled to launch in 2025 — and is supposed to put a woman and a person of color on the moon for the first time. It would also mark the first visit by humans to the lunar surface in half a century.
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