Alexis Guilleux (in New York) with AFP, edited by Laura Laplaud
Five days after taking off from Florida, the Artemis mission gets to the heart of the matter on Monday. The Orion capsule is preparing to perform the first of four main thrusts with its engines and to approach the Moon. A mission which for the moment “exceeds expectations” of NASA.
Five days after taking off from Florida, the performance of the Orion ship of the Artemis mission, en route to the Moon “exceed expectations”, welcomed NASA on Friday. This new capsule must take astronauts to the Moon in the coming years – the first to set foot on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. This first test flight, without a crew on board, must first serve to ensure that the vehicle is safe.
The Artemis mission gets to the heart of the matter this Monday
The spacecraft’s four solar panels, about 4 meters long, deployed correctly and “provide more energy” than expected, said Jim Geffre, responsible for Orion at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It is there, in Texas, that the control center from which the ship is piloted is located. Orion is already some 320,000 km from Earth, and is preparing to perform with its engines the first of the four main thrusts programmed during the mission.
This maneuver, which will take place early Monday morning, will bring the spacecraft closer to just 130 km from the lunar surface, in order to take advantage of its gravitational force. As this will take place behind the far side of the Moon, NASA is expected to lose contact with the spacecraft for approximately 35 minutes. A risky maneuver because it will take place behind the far side of the Moon. NASA will therefore lose contact with the capsule for about thirty minutes.
The ship will probably break a record for a habitable capsule
Four days later, a second thrust from the engines will place Orion in a distant orbit around the Moon. The ship will go up to 64,000 km behind her – a record for a habitable capsule. It will then begin the journey back to Earth, with a landing in the Pacific Ocean scheduled for December 11, after just over 25 days of flight. The success of this mission depends on the future of Artemis 2, which will take astronauts around the Moon without landing, then Artemis 3, which will finally mark the return of humans to the lunar surface. These missions are officially scheduled to take place in 2024 and 2025, respectively.