![]() Lockheed is NASA’s primary contractor for the Orion spacecraft. “Skip entry gives us a consistent landing site that supports astronaut safety because it allows teams on the ground to better and faster coordinate recovery efforts,” said Joe Bomba, Lockheed Martin’s Orion aerosciences aerothermal lead, in a statement. In pictures: NASA's historic Artemis I mission There are a couple of reasons for using the skip maneuver. INTERACTIVE: Trace the path Artemis I will take around the moon and backĪs the capsule reached around 200,000 feet (61,000 meters) above the Earth’s surface, it performed a roll maneuver that briefly sent the capsule back upward - sort of like skipping a rock across the surface of a lake. The extreme heat also caused air molecules to ionize, creating a buildup of plasma that caused a 5½-minute communications blackout, according to Artemis I flight director Judd Frieling. “The next big test is the heat shield,” Nelson had told CNN in a phone interview Thursday, referring to the barrier designed to protect the Orion capsule from the excruciating physics of reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft was traveling about 32 times the speed of sound (24,850 miles per hour or nearly 40,000 kilometers per hour) as it hit the air - so fast that compression waves caused the outside of the vehicle to heat to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). ![]() “And this is what mission success looks like.” “This was a challenging mission,” NASA’s Artemis I mission manager, Mike Sarafin, told reporters Sunday afternoon. EpslFMPLe6- NASA's Exploration Ground Systems December 11, 2022 Teams with EGS and the DoD continue to make progress to safely secure the spacecraft. The capsule is expected to spend less time in the water during crewed mission, perhaps less than two hours, according to Melissa Jones, the recovery director for this mission.Ī fleet of reovery vehicles - including boats, a helicopter and a US Naval ship called the USS Portland - were waiting nearby.Ī NASA Twitter account confirm the capsule was on the USS Portland at 6:40 pm ET.Īrtemis I recovery update: is now in the well deck of the USS Portland. That process, much like the rest of the mission, aims to ensure the Orion spacecraft is ready to fly astronauts. ![]() The capsule then spent six hours in the Pacific Ocean, with NASA collecting additional data and running through some tests before the rescue team moved it. “I’m overwhelmed,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Sunday. NASA's historic Artemis I mission is coming to a closeīut after splashing down, Rob Navias, the NASA commentator who led Sunday’s broadcast, called the reentry process “textbook.” That's half as hot as the outer surface of the sun.NASA's Orion capsule captures a view of the "Earth rise" as it emerges from the far side of the moon NASA Ammonia, lethal to humans when exposed to high levels, is used for the crew module's cooling system, which is crucial for future crewed missions, Nail said.Ī key part of the descent was to test the spacecraft's heat shield against the "searing heat of entry" where temperatures built up to around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit around Orion, Navias said. The navy boat was waiting for the ammonia to vent off, allotting as long as two hours, before closing in on the capsule. "It was a beautiful sight, probably just about several thousand feet in the sky, and we watched that slow descent as the Orion crew module made its way down to the Pacific Ocean." "Watching it from the deck as an observer, we saw those three full main parachutes pop out," said NASA spokesperson Derrol Nail, speaking from the USS Portland several miles from the splashdown site. NASA called it a perfectly conducted "textbook entry." After traveling 1.4 million miles through space, orbiting the Moon, and collecting data that will prepare us to send astronauts on future #Artemis missions, the spacecraft is home.
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