Second flyby of the Artemis I mission to the Moon before returning home, live

by time news

Artemis Ithe mission that inaugurates the new program to carry astronauts to the Moon (including the first woman and the first person of color), will carry out its last maneuver close to our satellite this Monday, an action that will be broadcast live by the NASA. The Orion capsulewhich now has three mannequins on board, but which will be the vehicle for future crews, will carry out the 17.43 (Spanish time) an engine burn for 207 seconds, the longest so far of the mission. At that time, the spacecraft will be 128 kilometers from the lunar surface.

The capsule was launched into space by the powerful megarocket Space Launch System (SLS) from NASA, which after two failed attempts on November 16 managed to put the ship into orbit. A few days later, Orion entered lunar orbit as planned, although up to 13 “anomalies” were recorded and the loss of half of the CubeSats, small probes the size of a shoebox with different scientific experiments on board – although not crucial for the main objective of the mission, which was to test the new lunar rover. In addition, a few days ago, the capsule lost contact with ground control for almost an hour, although communication was eventually recovered.

On December 1, Orion made its first flyby of the Moon, approaching the same distance as the maneuver that will take place this Monday, about 138 kilometers from the surface. However, on this first occasion, the engine ignition only lasted 105 seconds. This action served to leverage the spacecraft’s lunar gravity, taking Orion as far as any manned spacecraft has ever been, 300,000 miles from Earth.

The Artemis team insists that this flight test is being “a complete success” and that society is one step closer to returning to the Moon.

The work that lies ahead

This Monday’s maneuver will put Orion on its way back to Earth, something that will happen, if all goes according to plan, next Sunday, December 11. That day, the capsule will enter the Earth’s atmosphere at almost 25,000 40,000 kilometers per second, having to withstand temperatures of up to 2,750 degrees Celsius – approximately half the temperature of the solar surface.

After passing the trial by fire, he will land by parachute in the Pacific Ocean. “It’s taken a long time to get here, but now Orion is on its way to the Moon,” he said. Jim Free, NASA deputy associate administrator in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “This successful launch means that we and our partners are well placed to explore further into space than ever before for the benefit of humanity.”

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