by NASA has released a video (above) featuring highlights from the successful Artemis I mission, which ended with the Orion spacecraft returning home on Sunday.
The video tells the story of the historic mission that used NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to take the uncrewed Orion on a journey around the moon before returning to Earth.
During the journey, Orion used its onboard cameras to send back spectacular images of the moon and Earth; some of these are featured in NASA’s featured video.
Artemis I was a test mission as part of the crewed flight of Artemis II, which will likely follow the same path in 2024, and as part of preparations for a crewed moon landing in 2025 or 2026.
“From launch to launch, NASA’s Orion spacecraft completed its first deep space mission with a jump in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California at 9:40 PM PT (12:40 PM ET) Sunday,” NASA said in a message. . accompanied by the video.
During its 25-day mission, the Orion capsule traveled more than 1.4 million miles and entered a distant orbit around the moon, which included two flights that took the vehicle within just 80 miles of the lunar surface.
NASA’s spacecraft also set a new record for the furthest distance traveled from Earth by a human-rated spacecraft, staying in space longer than any astronaut-ready capsule without docking at an orbital outpost like the International Space Station (ISS). .
The mission ended dramatically on Sunday when the Orion spacecraft withstood temperatures of about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it entered Earth’s atmosphere at about 25,000 mph, then slowed to about 20 mph for a parachute-assisted jump.
“The Orion spacecraft bounce, which occurred 50 years before Apollo 17’s moon landing, is the crowning achievement of Artemis I,” NASA chief Bill Nelson said on Sunday after Orion’s return home. “From the launch of the world’s most powerful rocket to an extraordinary journey around the Moon and back to Earth, this flight test is a major step forward in Artemis Generation Moon exploration.”
Going forward, NASA plans to build the first permanent base on the lunar surface where astronauts can live and work similarly to what they do on the ISS today. The moon could even serve as a launch point for the first manned missions to Mars, which could take place in the 2030s.
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