On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, the Orion capsule of the Space Launch System rocket passed this Monday about 130 kilometers from the lunar surface, thus reaching the closest point to the Moon since it was launched on November 16.
The first phase of the Artemis mission only carries three test dummies, on a journey that will last 25 days, but the goal is for the rocket to take astronauts to the Moon in 2025, marking the return of humans to the Moon.
Teams of scientists are now preparing for Orion to enter a “distant retrograde orbit” on Friday, November 25. NASA explains that “The orbit is distant in the sense that it is high up relative to the Moon’s surface, and it is retrograde because Orion will travel around the Moon in the opposite direction that the Moon travels around Earth.” To enter this “distant retrograde orbit,” Orion will travel more than 91,000 kilometers “surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 for the longest distance traveled by a spacecraft designed to carry astronauts.”
On Saturday, November 26, Orion is expected to be 400,000 kilometers from Earth, reaching its maximum distance (432,000 kilometers) next Monday.
“The mission is continuing as planned and Earth systems, our operations teams and Orion continue to exceed expectations and we continue to learn about this new spacecraft along the way,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager.
Orion will return to Earth on December 11.
NASA’s mission, Artemis, marks the start of the program with which the United States intends to return to the surface of the Moon in 2025, placing the first female astronaut and the first black astronaut on lunar soil.
On top of the rocket is the Orion capsule which, for this first mission, is equipped with a “dummy” that will record the impacts of the flight on the human body.
The mission’s launch followed two launch attempts in August and September that were canceled due to technical issues.
Source: TSF
