{"id":17331,"date":"2022-11-21T21:36:38","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T13:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasas-orion-capsule-circles-the-moon-capturing-views-thatll-make-you-feel-giddy\/"},"modified":"2022-11-21T21:36:38","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T13:36:38","slug":"nasas-orion-capsule-circles-the-moon-capturing-views-thatll-make-you-feel-giddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasas-orion-capsule-circles-the-moon-capturing-views-thatll-make-you-feel-giddy\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Orion capsule circles the moon, capturing views that\u2019ll make you feel giddy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A view captured by a camera on one of Orion\u2019s solar array wings shows Earth setting beneath the moon\u2019s horizon. A portion of the Orion capsule is in the foreground at left. (NASA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s Orion capsule rounded the moon today, marking a crucial milestone in a weeks-long Artemis 1 mission that\u2019s preparing the way for sending astronauts to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

As the uncrewed spacecraft maneuvered for its outbound powered flyby, it sent back a spectacular set of images that showed the moon looming larger in its metaphorical windshield, and a tiny blue Earth setting beneath the lunar horizon.<\/p>\n

Artemis 1 flight director Judd Frieling said flight controllers at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center felt \u201cgiddy\u201d when they saw the pictures come down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just happy that all of the hard work and dedication that they\u2019ve spent for years \u2014 many, many, many years \u2014 is really paying dividends,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Mission manager Mike Sarafin said the flight was proceeding with \u201cno concerns,\u201d other than a few glitches with its power system and its star trackers.<\/p>\n

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The moon looms larger in a series of images sent back from the Orion capsule. The final image in this set shows Earth in the far background, more than 230,000 miles away. (NASA Photos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today\u2019s 2.5-minute engine firing, which came five days after the Artemis 1 launch, sent Orion as close to the moon as 81 miles. At the time of closest approach, the spacecraft zoomed over the lunar surface at a speed of more than 5,000 mph. Orion was out of contact with Earth for about 34 minutes as it flew behind the moon.<\/p>\n

Another maneuver, scheduled for Friday, will put the spacecraft into what\u2019s known as a distant retrograde orbit, stretching 40,000 miles beyond the moon. Such an orbit would be the farthest-out from Earth that a spacecraft designed to carry humans has flown during its mission. (Some commentators noted that the Apollo 10 lunar ascent module, which was jettisoned in 1969 and is now orbiting the sun, is farther out.)<\/p>\n

Orion was in the dark during today\u2019s closest approach, so there was no opportunity to capture views of the Apollo landing sites as it flew over. But Sarafin promised that NASA will release more great pictures \u2014 once they\u2019re downloaded from the spacecraft and cleared for distribution. NASA also set up a streaming-video channel to feature live imagery from Artemis 1 when it\u2019s available.<\/p>\n

The views could be even better when Orion makes another close lunar approach on Dec. 5, during the maneuver for its return to Earth. That trajectory should send the spacecraft over the Apollo sites in daylight.<\/p>\n

This uncrewed Artemis 1 mission is meant to test the equipment and procedures that would be used in 2024 or so for the Artemis 2 mission, which would send a crew of astronauts around the moon. Artemis 2, in turn, would set the stage for a crewed lunar landing, currently scheduled for late 2025. That would be the first such landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.<\/p>\n

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An interior view of the Orion capsule shows a sensor-equipped mannequin that\u2019s been nicknamed \u201cCommander Moonikin Campos\u201d sitting in the seat at left. A zero-G indicator, styled after the Snoopy character from the \u201cPeanuts\u201d comic strip, is floating to the mannequin\u2019s lower right. The console for the experimental Alexa-like Callisto device is front and center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three mannequins are sitting inside the Artemis 1 capsule, wired up with sensors that are monitoring temperature, radiation exposure and other factors during flight. <\/p>\n

The capsule also has an Alexa-style voice assistant, code-named Callisto, which was created by Amazon in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and Cisco. During future deep-space flights, something like Callisto could provide a channel for information and videoconferencing \u2014 as well as a HAL-like sort of companionship for crews who might be missing out on real-time contact with folks back on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple of live technology assessments of the Callisto payload, and it\u2019s operating very well across the board,\u201d said Howard Hu, who is the Orion program manager at Johnson Space Center. \u201cWe\u2019re getting good visuals and good communications, thanks to Judd\u2019s team allocating some bandwidth. Right now, based on those sessions, things are looking very well with that payload.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orion is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, bringing the Artemis 1 mission to a close.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A view captured by a camera on one of Orion\u2019s solar array wings shows Earth setting beneath the moon\u2019s horizon. A portion of the Orion capsule is in the foreground at left. (NASA Photo) NASA\u2019s Orion capsule rounded the moon today, marking a crucial milestone in a weeks-long Artemis 1 mission that\u2019s preparing the way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[304,1658,625,190,640],"class_list":["post-17331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis","tag-callisto","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-orion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}