Artemis spacecraft reaches the Moon
Nasa’s Orion spacecraft reached the Moon’s orbit yesterday, flying over Tranquility Base where Neil Armstrong walked 53 years ago.
The Artemis mission launched its test flight last Wednesday, the first time an astronaut-class spacecraft has ventured into lunar orbit since the Apollo programme was cancelled.
The spacecraft, which is powered by an old space shuttle engine, needed to make a precise two-minute burn on the dark side of the Moon so it could enter retrograde orbit, where it will remain for six days.
Retrograde orbit means it will be travelling in the opposite direction to the anticlockwise direction that the Moon spins around the Earth. At closest approach it flew within 130km of the lunar surface.
Nasa lost the signal from Orion for 34 minutes as it swept behind the satellite, with mission controllers facing an anxious wait to find out if the manoeuvre had been successful.
But at 1.25pm GMT the spacecraft regained contact with Earth and moved into an elliptical orbit which will eventually take it out into deep space, before the return journey home.
Zeb Scoville, Nasa flight director, said: ‘‘This is one of those days that you’ve been thinking about and dreaming about for a long, long time.
‘‘This morning we just saw the Earth set behind the Moon as we take the next human rated vehicle around the moon, preparing to bring humans back there within a few years. This is a game changer. This is not a repeat of Apollo, we are going to be setting up there, doing the architecture and research which will give us the ability to explore and move beyond to Mars.
‘‘We’re going to come back with the crew on Artemis II and then Artemis III will get us on to the surface.’’
The propulsion system to get to the Moon is being provided by the European Service Module built in Germany by Airbus, which also supplies air and water to the crew and controls temperature.
For its return trip to Earth, it gets another gravity assist from the Moon to set it back on track for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on December 11.