IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES – The Orion space capsule, which ventured a little over 432,000 km from Earth, must land this Sunday at the end of the afternoon.
After spending 25 days in space and flying over the Moon, the Orion space capsule from the Artemis mission is making its big return to Earth. Its landing is scheduled for Sunday, December 11 at 5:40 p.m. GMT (6:40 p.m. French time), in the Pacific Ocean, off California. Named after the moon goddess, the Artemis mission ventured just over 432,000 km from our blue planet. A record for a habitable ship.
If no one was inside this ship – but three mannequins and a stuffed sheep – this experiment aims to prepare manned flights to the Moon, then to Mars. A look back at this extraordinary mission, 50 years after the last flight of the Apollo program.
Preparations
It took about ten years and a very expensive development to build this mastodon of 98 meters. The rocket is called Space Launch System (SLS). Its development is a direct consequence of the accident of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, which caused the death of seven astronauts.
Initially, its takeoff was scheduled for August 29, 2022. But the launch had to be postponed several times, to resolve technical issues, but also to avoid two hurricanes, Ian and Nicole.
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The third attempt was successful. This photo was taken three days before liftoff, on November 13, 2022. The rocket is placed on launch pad 39B at the Cape Canaveral launch base in Florida.
More than 100,000 people were expected on Florida beaches to watch the firing. Here, a photographer waits at the Kennedy Space Center press site on Nov. 15, 2022, a day before launch.
November 16: take-off
The rocket finally took off on Wednesday, November 16, at 01:47 local time and 06:47 GMT, from Kennedy Space Center. The maximum take-off thrust was evaluated at 4000 tons, which is three times more powerful than Ariane, and 15% more than the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo programs.
The SLS rocket rose into the night like a giant ball of fire from Kennedy Space Center. The two white boosters – which initially provide most of the thrust – broke off two minutes after takeoff.
Eight minutes later, it is the turn of the body of the main stage (orange) to detach, leaving the Orion capsule and its service module attached to the second stage. This carried out a long push of about an hour and a half to place the ship on its trajectory towards the Moon.
Finally, before completing its mission, the second stage placed around ten mini satellites on different trajectories.
From November 16 to December 5: heading for the Moon
After adjusting its trajectory, the Orion space capsule then headed towards the Moon in order to proceed with its flyby. It took him about five days to reach it.
It then ignited its engines to place itself in long-range retrograde orbit and completed one and a half turns of the Moon, venturing as far as 450,000 km from Earth, a record for a habitable spacecraft – further than missions Apollo. . During the mission, Orion spent about six days in remote orbit around the Moon.
December 5: flyby of the Moon and return to Earth
On Monday, December 5, nearly 20 days after takeoff, the Orion space capsule performed the flyby of the Moon. Communication with the capsule was interrupted for 30 minutes when it passed behind the far side of the Moon.
By performing this flyby very close to the surface, the spacecraft took advantage of the gravitational pull of the Moon to propel itself on its return trajectory. He put his heat shield, the largest ever built, to the test by withstanding a temperature half as high as the surface of the Sun as it passed through the atmosphere.
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When it returns to Earth, the capsule will have traveled more than 2.2 million kilometers in total, said Mike Sarafin, mission manager.
50 years ago, the last Apollo mission
On December 7, 1972, the Apollo 17 mission took off for the Moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt are the last two to walk on the Moon.
At that time, the United States and the USSR made the conquest of space a major issue of the Cold War. Faced with the Soviets, the Americans then proved that they were the most powerful, sending six missions and 12 men to the Moon between 1969 and 1972.
In this vintage photo, Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt, left, Eugene Cernan, right, and Ronald Evans, middle, pose in front of Apollo 17 in the Lunar Traveling Vehicle, on the launch complex August 28, 1972, at Center Kennedy Space.