NASA’s Orion capsule, designed to send the next crew of astronauts to the Moon, is returning to Earth after spending time in a distant retrograde orbit above the satellite’s surface.
The spacecraft fired its main engine Dec. 1 at 1553 CST (2153 UTC) for one minute and 45 seconds, changing its velocity by about 454 feet per second, NASA confirmed Thursday. The orbital burn is the first of two maneuvers he must perform to get her on the right track home. It has spent more than 16 days in space so far and is expected to land and splash in the Pacific Ocean on December 11 to be retrieved by the US Navy.
The second orbital burn is scheduled for Dec. 5, when the floating capsule will be 79.2 miles from the moon’s surface. Orion carries some trusted equipment from NASA’s space shuttle era, its main engine, capable of providing 6,000 pounds (more than 2,721 kilograms) of thrust, is a repurposed system based on the same engine that powered the Space Shuttle flights, from STS-41G in October 1984 to STS-112 in October 2002.
NASA faced numerous technical difficulties in getting SLS and Orion to lift off. Originally scheduled to fly to the moon in August, launch attempts were repeatedly scuppered as engineers struggled with fuel leaks and hurricanes lashing Florida. Orion finally reached space on November 16 aboard the first flight of NASA’s heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Space Launch System.
The Artemis I mission allows ground control to test the rocket’s flight capabilities, as well as Orion’s navigational abilities and heat shield. The heat shield was built by Lockheed Martin and is a crucial component to protect future space travelers. As the Orion capsule returns to Earth, its heat shield will reach 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). The heat shield prevents it from disintegrating so the capsule can land back on the mainland and hopefully the astronauts get home safely.
“The first launch of the Space Launch System rocket was just mind-blowing,” Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said at a media briefing this week, Space.com reported. “While our mission with Orion is still ongoing and we continue to learn throughout our flight, the rocket’s systems performed as designed and as expected in all cases,” he added.
The second Artemis mission will send a team of astronauts inside the Orion capsule to spend some time in lunar orbit, before the third Artemis mission will land a crew on the surface of the Moon scheduled for 2025. ®