Space | The Orion capsule returning from the moon splashes into the sea with NASA dummies on board – the live broadcast starts around 6 pm

Hearing flight Artemis 1’s journey to the Moon and back to Earth ends on Sunday.

The capsule of the Orion ship, built for astronauts, splashes into the Pacific Ocean with the help of brake pads.

The capsule is detached from Orion’s maintenance module and its rocket when Orion is already close to Earth. The capsule is then turned so that it descends bottom-first into the Earth’s atmosphere.

If the return goes well, the flight will end in the Pacific Ocean off the California peninsula in Mexico on Sunday around 19:40 Finnish time. HS will show a live broadcast of the landing from around 18:00.

Another option for landing is further north near San Diego in California, USA.

Bridge times about 5 by 8 meters capsule has no astronauts yet.

They are replaced by one larger test dummy and two smaller ones. All of them have a lot of sensors attached to them.

Dummies were used to measure, among other things, radiation doses in different phases of the flight. On top of the test dummy is a pressure suit, the kind astronauts wear during takeoff and landing.

There are also food ingredients, for example yeast, whose radiation is measured by Nasa.

The purpose of the sensors is to measure how the capsule withstands descent in the atmosphere. At the same time, the US space agency Nasa is experimenting a new way bring the return capsule to Earth.

NASA intends to “jump” Orion’s return capsule in the atmosphere.

The capsule meets the atmosphere at an altitude of about 122 kilometers. Orion dives down to 61 kilometers and warms up.

But then it is deliberately raised upwards to 91 kilometers, says Nature.

At some point, Orion’s radio connection is cut off for a few minutes, because the air around the ship heats up so much.

Over here In NASA’s space flights, astronauts have returned to the atmosphere in such a way that the space capsule has been guided into the atmosphere on a certain trajectory. Gravity has taken care of the rest.

However, the location of the capsule in the Pacific Ocean could not be calculated very precisely in advance.

That’s why, for example, at the time of the Apollo sounding flights in the 1960s and 1970s, a number of rescue ships, helicopters, boats and divers were waiting from the supposed location within a radius of nautical miles.

They all try to locate the capsule with parachutes and get radio contact with it.

Orion can travel through the atmosphere almost 8,900 kilometers from the point where it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

This way there is more leeway than in the case of the Apollos. They traveled in the atmosphere for a maximum of only about 2,700 kilometers before falling with their shadows into the sea.

By steering the capsule, it is brought more precisely to the desired location, which is close to the coast of the United States, said Leading Orion’s navigation Chris Madsen In a NASA announcement.

If the capsule lands off San Diego, it will crash into the ocean just 80 kilometers from the coastline.

Rescuers are close, no matter where Orion lands in the Pacific. They quickly get the capsule out of the sea. Knowing the landing location reduces the number of rescuers and equipment.

Future Orions from Artemis flights may always return to San Diego, weather permitting.

Nasa and the US Navy already sent pick-up ships for exercises in the Pacific Ocean last week. There, Orion is lifted from the sea with brake parachutes.

Orion’s the strain on the capsule is measured precisely. Already on the next Artemis flight in 2024, there will be four astronauts in the capsule.

Orion’s capsule re-enters the atmosphere hard. It has a speed of about 40,000 kilometers per hour.

At the bottom of the capsule is a heat shield with a diameter of more than five meters. It is made of epoxy and resin.

“Orion’s the capsule returns from space to Earth faster and hotter than any spacecraft”, explained The head of NASA Bill Nelson in August before the flight.

When it hits the Earth’s atmosphere at about 32 times the speed of sound, the bottom heats up to 2,800 degrees Celsius. It is about half the temperature of the Sun’s surface.

Molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere quickly slow down the capsule’s speed but heat up the vessel.

Controlled the return also reduces future ones Artemis flights strain faced by astronauts. It makes sense to divide the burden of the return into parts, and it is possible with the latest technologies.

During the return, the astronauts are exposed to high accelerations. For a moment, the astronaut feels more than six times his body weight.

High accelerations, so-called g-forces, can cause dizziness and fainting. The astronaut’s heart also gets strained.

With the help of new technology, the stress can be reduced to less than four g.

Flight at the end, at an altitude of about seven kilometers, the cover of the upper part of the Orion capsule is removed.

A total of 11 parachutes are discharged from the capsule under the shelter in different stages. At the end, Orion plunges into the Pacific Ocean with the help of three shadows.

When Orion hits the Pacific Ocean in the shadows, it only has a speed of 32 kilometers per hour, says Nature.

Artemis 1’s was sent on its way on November 16 by the gigantic and 98-meter-high SLS 1 launch vehicle. It is currently the most powerful launch vehicle in the world.

When the flight ends on Sunday, only a few meters of structure will be left of that giant moon rocket – just the capsule of the Orion astronauts.

The capsule will be lifted onto the deck of the pickup vessel on Sunday evening. Engineers will examine it closely. Parts of Orion will be recovered for later flights.

It concludes the historic Artemis 1 flight that launched the new lunar program. At least five Artemis flights by different astronauts are planned for the 2020s, and another mokoma for the 2030s as well.

Orion traveled more than 2.2 million kilometers in space. Overall, the flight took over 25 days and 12 hours.