NASA’s Orion capsule returns to earth following a 25-day test flight around the moon; a successful first step for the Artemis 1 mission, which is destined for a bright future.
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This is what Olivier Hernandez, director of the Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan, pointed out in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
“It bodes very well for the future in fact, since one of the major difficulties and novelties of the Artemis mission and with the Orion capsule was precisely the return to earth, which is slightly different from the Appolo missions, or the returns of the ships spacecraft that go from the space station to the earth,” rejoices Mr. Hernandez.
A crucial additional step was thus accomplished with this successful water landing.
“It’s actually a bounce on the atmosphere to delicately slow down the Orion capsule before it finally returns to earth. This stage, we had already tested it with small satellites, but never with a large capsule like this, which is supposed to transport humans”, he specifies.
The objective, planned over 2 years, is to bring astronauts into the device towards the end of the year 2024, with perhaps a Canadian astronaut on board.
“The Artemis 2 mission should carry a Canadian astronaut. We have four astronauts available, including a woman, who are available to go on this mission, and it is planned that for Artemis 2, there will be a Canadian on board this mission, “explains the director of the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium.
However, results are still needed before moving forward.
“We are impatiently awaiting the results of the current mission to know what data we have recovered, because there were three mannequins on board stuffed with sensors to know exactly how the equivalent of human bodies behaved. very far from land. Once we have recovered all that, we can give the go, yes or no, to be able to send Artemis 2 precisely, ”explains Mr. Hernandez.
While the Orion capsule was returning to earth, another space mission, Japanese this time, flew to the moon, carrying on board two new advanced Canadian technologies.
