- The spacecraft will make a start to leave orbit, in addition, it will begin its return to Earth after 15 days of flight.
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| This mission will serve to assess the risks of Artemis II. / NASA Johnson |
Orion leaves its distant retrograde orbit this Friday and begins its return to Earth
Today, the Orion capsule of the Artemis I mission will leave its distant retrograde lunar orbit to begin the return trip to Earth, which will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.
NASA indicates in a statement that "Orion will perform a start to leave orbit at 3:53 pm CST on Thursday, December 1, and will begin its return trip to Earth."
Those responsible for the mission decided that after 15 days of flight, the capsule will begin its journey after collecting test data and reducing the risk of the next manned missions.
Mike Sarafin points out in the statement that "we continue to learn how the system works, where our margins are, and how to operate and work with the vehicle as an integrated team." On the other hand, Zebulon Scoville (NASA flight director) states that " It's an incredible mission, we're seeing incredible opportunities to put people on the moon and explore the solar system."
This mission will serve to assess the risks of Artemis II which NASA plans to launch with a crew in 2024. Last Monday, Orion reached the maximum distance achieved by a ship from Earth, that is, 434,522 kilometers, surpassing the record distance of Apollo XIII thanks to its speed of 8,200 kilometers per hour.
The general objective of the Artemis program is to establish a lunar base as a previous step to reach Mars in the future. Therefore, after Artemis I, NASA will launch Artemis II with a crew into lunar orbit in 2024, and Artemis III is expected to lift off in 2025, a mission in which astronauts would touch down on the satellite.
LIVE NOW: We're previewing @NASA_Orion’s scheduled departure from its distant retrograde orbit around the Moon, which will begin on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 4:53pm ET (21:53 UTC). #Artemis https://t.co/sIFJhoQMHN
— NASA (@NASA) November 30, 2022
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