The Orion capsule has made its closest pass above the surface of the moon and begun its journey back to Earth, capturing astonishing views of our planet on the way
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Earth is seen as a crescent beyond the moon in this image taken
from the Orion spacecraft NASA |
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which launched atop the Space
Launch System (SLS) rocket on 16 November, is heading home. The capsule
completed its closest pass by the moon on 5 December, hurtling around the
moon’s far side and lighting up its thrusters to begin the journey back to
Earth.
The close pass took the capsule just 127 kilometres above
the surface of the far side of the moon – the side we never see from Earth due
to the length of the moon’s orbit being tightly locked with the timing of its
rotation. As Orion passed back into view of Earth, it took images of the
crescent planet rising above the moon’s cratered surface.
Orion returned to Earth on 11 December,
splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. This is one of the most challenging part of the mission – Orion’s heat shield will be
subjected to temperatures of almost 2800°C as it plunges into Earth’s
atmosphere. Making sure the heat shield holds up during that infernal descent
is one of the key goals of this test flight.
Orion proves safe, the next step is the Artemis II
mission, planned for 2024, in which a capsule will carry astronauts around the
moon and back home. Then, in 2025, a capsule is scheduled to take astronauts back
to the surface of the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA
officials hope that this mission, called Artemis III, will mark the beginning
of a sustained human presence on the lunar surface.
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