NASA's lunar exploration mission `` Artemis plan '' succeeds the lunar orbit flight test of the spacecraft `` Orion ''

On Sunday, December 11, 2022 local time, as part of NASA 's Artemis plan to 'send humans to the moon by 2024', the spacecraft 'Orion' scheduled to be used in the mission will orbit the moon. The test to fly with was completed successfully. Orion entered the atmosphere at a speed of Mach 32, 32 times the speed of sound, landed near Guadalupe Island on the Baja California Peninsula, and safely returned to Earth.

NASA's Orion capsule blazes home from test flight to moon
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-nasa-orion-capsule-blazes-home.html

NASA's Artemis I Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/11/23503957/nasa-artemis-i-mission-orion-splashdown

Here's why NASA's Artemis I mission is so rare, and so remarkable | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/12/after-decades-of-false-starts-nasa-really-is-returning-to-the-moon-this-time/

The last time an astronaut landed on the moon was 50 years ago, on December 11, 1972. At that time, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt landed on the moon and spent three days exploring the Taurus-Littrow Valley . However, no astronauts have explored the moon since then.

NASA's Artemis plan, which is planning the first lunar exploration in over 50 years, aims to conduct manned lunar exploration in 2024. In this lunar exploration, four astronauts will travel to the moon on Orion, and two astronauts will land on the moon in 2025.

The spacecraft used for this mission, Orion, was launched on November 16, 2022 at the Kennedy Space Center's Space Launch System . The mission name is ' Artemis No. 1 ', and it is a standing position of an unmanned flight test for the main mission of the Artemis project.

The state of Orion launch of Artemis 1 is live-streamed by NASA on YouTube's official channel, and you can see the moment of launch in the following video. The moment of launch is around 3:17 in the following video.

Artemis I Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast)-Nov. 16, 2022-YouTube


After that, Orion, which flew around the moon for 25 days and a half and 1.4 million miles (about 2.25 million km) from the launch, landed safely off the coast of Baja California, Mexico around 12:40 EST. , All Artemis 1 missions have been completed. Orion when returning to Earth has reached a speed of about 24,500 miles per hour (about 39,000 km), and it seems that Orion's surface shield was about 5000 degrees Fahrenheit (2760 degrees Celsius).

NASA said on its official Twitter account, 'Splashing down. After traveling 1.4 million miles in space, orbiting the moon, and collecting data to prepare the future Artemis program for the gifting of astronauts, the spacecraft Orion is on Earth. I returned to Earth,' he tweeted, revealing that Orion had safely returned to Earth.

Splashdown.

After traveling 1.4 million miles through space, orbiting the Moon, and collecting data that will prepare us to send astronauts on future #Artemis missions, the @NASA_Orion spacecraft is home.pic.twitter.com/ORxCtGa9v7

— NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2022

Artemis 1 this time tested Orion's maneuvering method called 'Skip Entry ' when re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. Skip entry is a method in which Orion uses lift to increase the altitude when entering the atmosphere and then re-enters the atmosphere. to become. Since the landing point can be specified in more detail than before, it will be relatively easy to retrieve the astronauts. Orion is the first spacecraft designed to carry people to use skip entry.

Orion, who succeeded in skip entry, deploys a parachute at about 24,000 feet (about 7.3 km) from the ground and starts decelerating to land on the Pacific Ocean. The US Navy is scheduled to recover Orion, which successfully landed on the water, but it is expected to take several hours to complete recovery.

After collection is completed, NASA will collect data from the mannequin with built-in sensors mounted on Orion and prepare for manned missions where humans will board. The Artemis II mission to be implemented in 2024 will send astronauts to orbit around the moon, and the next Artemis III mission in 2026 will land on the moon. However, it seems that the Artemis III mission will not be realized until 2026 at the earliest.

'I am overwhelmed. Today is a special day... We are now returning to space with a new generation. This is historic,' said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson . We celebrated the success of our mission.