NASA’s Orion spaceship on Monday made a close pass of the moon and used a gravity assist to whip itself back toward Earth, marking the start of the return journey for the Artemis-1 mission.
At its nearest point, the uncrewed capsule flew less than 130km from the surface, testing maneuvers that are to be used during later Artemis missions that return humans to the rocky celestial body.
Communication with the capsule was interrupted for 30 minutes when it was behind the far side of the moon — an area more cratered than the near side and first seen by humans during the Apollo era, although they did not land there.
Photo: NASA via AP
The European Service Module, which powers the capsule, fired its main engine for more than 3 minutes to put the gumdrop-shaped Orion on course for home.
“We couldn’t be more pleased about how the spacecraft is performing,” Orion Program deputy manager Debbie Korth said.
As spectacular footage flashed on their screens once communication was restored, she told a news conference: “Everybody in the room, we just kind of had to stop and pause, and just really look — wow, we’re saying goodbye to the moon.”
Monday’s was the last major maneuver of the mission, which began when NASA’s moon rocket SLS blasted off from Florida on Nov. 16. From start to finish, the journey should last 25-and-a-half days.
Orion would now make only slight course corrections until it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, California, on Sunday at 9:40am local time. It would then be recovered and hoisted aboard a US Navy ship.
Earlier in the mission, Orion spent about six days in “distant retrograde orbit” around the moon, meaning at high altitude and traveling opposite to the direction the moon revolves around Earth.
A week ago, Orion broke the distance record for a habitable capsule, venturing 450,000km from our planet.
Once it returns to Earth, Orion would have traveled more than 2.25 million kilometers, Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said.
Re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere is to present a harsh test for the spacecraft’s heat shield, which would need to withstand temperatures of about 2,800°C — or about half that of the surface of the sun.
Under the Artemis program — named for the sister of Apollo in Greek mythology — the US is seeking to build a lasting presence on the moon in preparation for an onward voyage to Mars.
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