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Washington (AFP) – On the third day of its mission to the Moon, the Orion capsule “exceeds expectations,” NASA said on Friday.
This capsule should take astronauts to the Moon in the coming years, who will be the first to set foot on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. This first uncrewed test flight should serve above all to determine that the vehicle is safe.
“Today we have met to review the operation of the Orion capsule (…), and it has exceeded expectations,” said Mike Sarafin, in charge of this mission called Artemis 1, at a press conference.
The capsule’s four solar panels, regarding 12 feet long, deployed correctly and are “providing more power” than expected, said Jim Geffre, the capsule manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where the spacecraft is located. command from which the capsule is piloted.
Orion is already regarding 200,000 miles from Earth and preparing to perform the first of its four scheduled main thrusts on the mission, with the help of its engines.
This maneuver, which will take place on Monday in the early hours of the morning, will bring the capsule closer to regarding 100 km from the lunar surface, in order to take advantage of its gravitational force. Since this will take place behind the far side of the Moon, NASA is expected to lose contact with the capsule for regarding 35 minutes.
“We’re going to fly over some of the Apollo landing sites,” NASA flight director Jeff Radigan said, even when they’re in shadow.
A video of the flyby will be released later.
Four days later, a second thrust from the engines will place Orion in an orbit around the Moon 64,000 km away, a record for a habitable capsule.
Then the return trip to Earth will begin, with a landing in the Pacific Ocean scheduled for December 11.
The future of Artemis 2 depends on the success of this mission, which will transport astronauts to go around the Moon without landing on its surface, and then Artemis 3, which will finally mark the return of humans on the lunar surface. Said missions should take place in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Mike Sarafin also specified that 10 scientific micro-satellites had been deployed during the takeoff of the rocket, but half of them had technical or communication problems. These experiences, carried out separately by independent teams, have no impact on the main mission.
© 2022 AFP
