Muristek
Artemis 1 goes farther than Apollo 13 NASA PHOTOSOrion sets a record Saturday for the farthest point from Earth for a craft designed for astronauts. On Monday, the spacecraft broke its own record, at nearly 270,000 miles from Earth.
Artemis, the series of missions that will bring astronauts back to the moon, has set a major record.
A couple of them actually.
The uncrewed Orion capsule on Saturday went farther from Earth than any other spacecraft designed for astronauts. It broke the 248,655-mile record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
And on Monday, Orion broke its own record when it went farther and reached its maximum distance from Earth — 268,554 miles at 1:48 p.m. Pacific time. NASA reported the craft was cruising at 1,750 mph.
Orion is scheduled to start its trip back to Earth on Dec. 5.
And on Dec. 11, the Artemis 1 spacecraft is set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean.
A mannequin rides the Orion spacecraft during its flight to the moon and back. Also in the craft is a floating Snoopy, lower right.NASA plans to launch its first crewed mission in the Orion craft during Artemis 2. Like the Apollo 10 astronauts, the crew will orbit the moon but won’t land there.
Artemis 3 will be the program’s equivalent of Apollo 11. The mission is designed to put the first woman and the first astronaut of color on the moon.
“Artemis builds on the experience of Apollo,” NASA said. “With Artemis, humans will return to the lunar surface, and this time to stay.”
On Thursday, the Orion spacecraft took this photo looking back at the moon.Artemis is designed to place Gateway, a space station in orbit around the moon, and the Orion craft will dock there. Astronauts will live and work on the station and take a lander from Gateway to the moon, where there will be the Artemis base camp. Astronauts will live at the camp as well.
“NASA will lead the way in collaboration with international and commercial partners to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon,” the space agency said at blogs.nasa.gov/artemis. “Then, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.”
Although the current Artemis mission is uncrewed, the Orion capsule is far from empty. Three mannequins, dressed with sensors measuring acceleration, vibration and radiation levels, are along for the ride. One mannequin is wearing an Orion spacesuit, and the other two are in passenger seats.
The mannequin in the spacesuit has a name: Commander Moonikin Campos. The name is in honor of Arturo Campos (1934-2001), an engineer who developed the electrical systems for the Apollo lunar capsules. Mr. Campos’ expertise contributed to the safe return of the Apollo 13 astronauts Jim Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise. With the help of Mr. Campos and others in NASA, the astronauts got back to Earth despite a malfunction caused by an explosion and rupture of an oxygen tank in the service module.
email: dmason@newspress.com
The post Breaking records at the moon appeared first on Santa Barbara News-Press.