NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft has made it again to terra firma.
Orion reached Naval Base San Diego on Tuesday (Dec. 13) aboard the usPortland, the U.S. Navy restoration ship that fished the capsule out of the Pacific Ocean on Sunday (Dec. 11) following its successful splashdown.
The spacecraft will probably be offloaded from the Portland on Wednesday (Dec. 14) and can then start an overland trek to NASA’s Kennedy House Middle (KSC) in Florida, KSC officers said via Twitter on Tuesday (opens in new tab).
In images: 10 greatest images from NASA’s Artemis 1 mission
That will probably be a homecoming for Orion, which lifted off from KSC atop a Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket on Nov. 16, kicking off the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission.
Every thing went effectively on the shakeout cruise; the SLS despatched Orion on its method to the moon as deliberate, and the capsule checked off all of its desired milestones in deep area.
Orion arrived in lunar orbit on Nov. 25, departed on Dec. 1 and headed for Earth on Dec. 5 by conducting an extended engine burn throughout a detailed flyby of the moon. The spacecraft returned to its house planet on Sunday, splashing down softly beneath parachutes about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.
As soon as Orion arrives at KSC, Artemis 1 group members will give it a radical going-over, assessing how the spacecraft and its many subsystems held up in deep area and the harrowing return journey by Earth’s atmosphere.
Technicians may also take away some {hardware} from the capsule for processing and reuse on Artemis 2, the following mission in NASA’s Artemis program of lunar exploration.
Artemis 2 is scheduled to launch astronauts across the moon in 2024. If all goes effectively with that flight, Artemis 3 will intention to place boots down close to the lunar south pole a yr or two later, utilizing a SpaceX Starship automobile as a lander.
NASA goals to construct a analysis base within the south polar area, which is believed to harbor a lot of water ice. The company additionally plans to construct a small area station in lunar orbit known as Gateway, which can function a jumping-off level for missions to the floor, each crewed and uncrewed.
The primary elements of Gateway are scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in late 2024.
Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide concerning the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
