NASA’s Orion Capsule Splashes Down Into Pacific After Orbiting Moon

Topline

NASA’s Orion capsule splashed down into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday after launching from Earth and orbiting the moon, marking the completion of the Artemis I mission, which intends to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in 50 years.

This photo provided by NASA shows the Orion capsule coming back from the moon. The capsule made a … [+] blisteringly fast return Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a dramatic 25-day test flight. The mission should clear the way for astronauts on the program’s next lunar flyby, set for 2024. (NASA via AP)

NASA

Key Facts

The Orion capsule, launched last month from the most powerful rocket to leave Earth, parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California’s Baja Peninsula at 12:40 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, where it was expected to be recovered by the U.S. Navy’s USS Portland.

NASA’s Mission Control Houston called Sunday’s feat a “textbook landing” and said the spacecraft was recovered in “stable and good shape” with all five parachutes inflated, during a live broadcast of the descent following its 1.4 million-mile mission.

The crewless mission spent 25 days in space, reaching a distance of about 268,000 miles from Earth and 40,000 miles from the moon, breaking the record for the farthest distance traveled by a spacecraft equipped to carry humans set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

Tangent

On Sunday, NASA tested a new method for a softer, safer landing by sending the spacecraft through the atmospheric surface for a second time after its initial descent before plunging into the water, in what NASA refers to as a “skip entry.” The slower entry is intended to “allow astronauts to experience lower g-forces during Earth entry from Moon missions,” NASA said and provide a “safer, smoother ride,” while lowering the heat surrounding the aircraft.

Key Background

NASA launched Orion atop its new Space Launch System from a launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 16, following months of delays due to Hurricane Nicole and technical difficulties. Orion’s landing on Sunday marks the completion of NASA’s first phase of a mission aimed at exploring the lunar surface’s south pole and its untapped resources, including water and ice, that could facilitate months- or even years-long moonwalks. Eventually, NASA hopes the lessons learned during the Artemis missions will allow it to take astronauts to Mars as soon as 2033, a goal set by former President Barack Obama’s administration.

Big Number

24,600 miles per hour. That’s the speed Orion logged as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday.

What To Watch For

Artemis II is expected to carry four crew members to space in 2024 and send two astronauts, one man and one woman, to the moon’s unexplored south pole as soon as 2025. Humans last landed on the moon via the Apollo 17 in 1972