NASA’s Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth on Monday, the 13th day of the Artemis mission, the US Space Agency said Monday. The capsule was more than 432,000 kilometers from our planet.
During this day, Orion’s position allowed him to capture a rare image: that of an eclipse of the Earth by the Moon.
On Monday, NASA announced that flight controllers have achieved or are in the process of achieving “37.5% of the test objectives associated with the mission, knowing that many of the remaining objectives will be evaluated during entry, descent , landing and recovery”.
astronauts on the moon
This new capsule should take astronauts to the Moon in the coming years, the first to set foot on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. This first test flight of the Orion spacecraft, without a crew on board, should serve to ensure that the vehicle is safe.
It was halfway through its journey on Monday: landing in the Pacific Ocean is scheduled for December 11, after just over 25 days of flight.
The success of this mission depends on the future of Artemis 2, which will take astronauts around the Moon without landing, and then Artemis 3, which will finally mark the return of humans to the lunar surface. These missions are officially scheduled for 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Goal: March
The ultimate goal of the Artemis program is not really the Moon, but Mars. With the creation of a base on the surface of the Moon, NASA wants to test the technologies necessary to send humans to the red planet: new suits, a vehicle to move around, a mini power plant, use of lunar water…
The idea is to learn how to establish a lasting human presence far from Earth, without being too far from it. In case of trouble, the Moon is only a few days away. March, several months.
Source: BFM TV
