On July 20, 2017, the Orion spacecraft returned to Earth after a trip to the moon. The mission was a success, and the capsule’s return marked a significant milestone in human space exploration. Orion is an advanced spacecraft that is designed to allow humans to explore and land on other planets. The spacecraft is made up of three parts: the launch vehicle, the landing vehicle, and the service module. The launch vehicle is a modified Delta IV Heavy rocket that will take Orion to space. The landing vehicle will be used to land on the moon and return home. The service module will be used for research and development purposes. The journey from Earth to space was long and difficult. However, it was worth it because Orion has many potential uses for humanity in the future.
The Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 9:40 AM on December 11, after sitting on top of the SLS rocket for launch and traveling around the Moon. The splashdown marks a successful end to the Artemis 1 mission, which was the first complete test for both the Orion capsule and the Space Launch System rocket. It was automated with no people on board, but it’s likely that the follow-up Artemis 2 mission will have a crew.
NASA said in a blog post, “during the mission, Orion performed two lunar flybys, coming within 80 miles of the lunar surface. At its farthest distance during the mission, Orion traveled nearly 270,000 miles from our home planet, more than 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station orbits Earth, to intentionally stress systems before flying crew. […] During re-entry, Orion endured temperatures about half as hot as the surface of the Sun at about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Within about 20 minutes, Orion slowed from nearly 25,000 mph to about 20 mph for its parachute-assisted splashdown.”
The space agency is now working on bringing the Orion capsule back to the Kennedy Space Center, after recovery teams on the USS Portland fished it out of the ocean. There are several science payloads within the capsule to check, and NASA will evaluate the capsule and heat shield to see how it held up after re-entry.
Source: NASA (1, 2)
