Return Of The Artemis Moon Mission To Earth - Texas Today

The Orion spacecraft successfully sailed by the Moon and currently heads to the Earth, bringing NASA’s Artemis 1 mission close to its objective.

The first Artemis mission to the Moon was finally launched by NASA last month after many postponements months earlier. The spacecraft traveled the predetermined route for 15 days, from Earth to the Moon’s orbit and back to our planet. Then, on Thursday, it abruptly left the orbit of the Moon. The Moon’s lava beds and hazard zones are among the regions NASA wants to investigate. Astronauts from the Apollo missions already explored some of these locations.

On December 11, if all works as planned, the Orion spacecraft will attempt to land miles off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean. The most powerful rocket for sending a spacecraft outside the atmosphere, NASA’s newest Space Launch System, propelled the Artemis rocket. NASA researchers expressed optimism that the first Artemis mission will give them more information necessary for future Artemis missions.

“The biggest test after the launch is the reentry because we want to know that that heat shield works at about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius), almost half as hot as the sun, coming in at 32 times the speed of sound (nearly 40,000 kilometers per hour),” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson…Read more

Source — Texas Today