NASA’s Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight.
“I’m overwhelmed,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said from Mission Control in Houston. “This is an extraordinary day … It’s historic because we are now going back into space — deep space — with a new generation.”
Orion was the first capsule to visit the moon since then, launching on NASA’s new mega moon rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16. It was the first flight of NASA’s new Artemis moon program, named after Apollo’s mythological twin sister. In an Apollo throwback, NASA held a splashdown party at Houston’s Johnson Space Center on Sunday, with employees and their families gathering to watch the broadcast of Orion’s homecoming. Next door, the visitor centre threw a bash for the public.
“People are anxious, we know that,” Vanessa Wyche, Johnson’s director, told reporters. Added Nelson: “The American people, just like the original seven astronauts in the Mercury days, are going to want to know about these astronauts.” Orion beamed back stunning photos of not only the gray, pitted moon, but also the home planet. As a parting shot, the capsule revealed a crescent Earth — Earthrise — that left the mission team speechless.
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NASA's Orion capsule blazes home from test flight to moonNASA's Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon Sunday, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight that should clear the way for astronauts on the next lunar flyby. The incoming capsule hit the atmosphere at Mach 32, or 32 times the speed of sound, and endured re-entry temperatures of 2,760 degrees Celsius.
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NASA’s Orion capsule blazes home after Artemis I flight around moonNASA’s Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight.
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