Two weeks after leaving Earth on a mission to the moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft has fired its main engine to put it on a course for the long journey home.
Two weeks after leaving Earth on a mission to the moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft has fired its main engine as part of efforts to put it on a course for the long journey home.
We've left lunar orbit! @NASA_Orion fired its main engine today to exit distant retrograde orbit and set itself on a course for Earth. The burn is one of two maneuvers we'll make ahead of splashdown on Dec 11. Next up? Return powered fly by on Dec 5. https://t.co/3gPLuhoFxD pic.twitter.com/RHjM2ATsWY As Free noted, the burn is one of two maneuvers that the uncrewed Orion spacecraft needs to make to get home.
The current Artemis I mission began on November 16 when NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During its journey so far, NASA’s spacecraft has come within just 80 miles of the lunar surface and also traveled 268,553 miles from Earth — the furthest point from our planet that a human-rated spacecraft has flown.
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