by The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared a cinematic video summarizing the latest Artemis I mission in just 60 seconds.
This brings together a lot of things for a 25-day trip, but the presentation does a great job of putting together key moments of the mission and also includes some fascinating images taken by the Orion spacecraft. meeting with the moon.
The crewless Artemis I mission tested NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft on their first orbital missions. ESA designed and oversaw the development of Orion’s service module, which provides air, electricity and propulsion to the capsule.
During the voyage, the spacecraft only traveled within 80 miles of the lunar surface and also traveled farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft – 268,553 miles – breaking the previous record set 50 years ago during the Apollo era.
Orion’s successful December 11 return home indicates that the hardware is working as expected, but NASA engineers are currently checking data from the Orion spacecraft during the mission to confirm that all systems of the capsule are functioning properly.
Early signs are certainly good. “Orion has returned from the moon and has returned safely to planet Earth,” Artemis I mission manager Mike Sarafin said shortly after the spacecraft returned home. “With Leap, we successfully operated Orion in a deep space environment, exceeding our expectations, and demonstrated that Orion can withstand the extreme conditions of returning from lunar speeds through the Earth’s atmosphere.”
If NASA concludes that everything is indeed working as expected, the space agency may begin planning for Artemis II, which will send Orion on the same route around the moon, but this time with the astronauts on board.
Artemis II could happen as early as 2024, followed by the highly anticipated Artemis III mission that will bring the first woman and first non-white person to the lunar surface, a journey that will also mark the first astronaut landing on the moon since the last Apollo. Mission in 1972.
Looking further, NASA wants to build a permanent base on the moon where astronauts can live and work for extended periods of time. The moon could also serve as a stepping stone for the first crewed mission to Mars, which NASA believes could happen in the 2030s.
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