Artemis 1 Moon mission

NASA spaceship slingshots around Moon, heads for Earth

6Dec

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Technology

NASA spaceship slingshots around Moon, heads for Earth

[ad_1] NASA's Orion spaceship made a close pass of the Moon and used a gravity assist to whip itself back towards Earth on Monday, marking the start of the return journey for the Artemis-1 mission. NASA's Orion spaceship made a close pass of the Moon and used a gravity assist to whip itself back towards Earth on Monday, marking the start of the return journey for the Artemis-1 mission. At its nearest point, the uncrewed capsule flew less than 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the surface, testing maneuvers that will be used during later Artemis missions that return humans to the rocky celestial body. Communication with the capsule was interrupted for 30 minutes when it was behind the far side of the Moon -- an area more cratered than the near side and first seen by humans during the...

NASA Moon mission ‘exceeding’ expectations

[ad_1] The spacecraft is to take astronauts to the Moon in the coming years -- the first to set foot on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. On the third day after lifting off from Florida bound for the Moon, the Orion spacecraft is "exceeding performance expectations," NASA officials said on Friday.The spacecraft is to take astronauts to the Moon in the coming years -- the first to set foot on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. This first test flight, without a crew on board, aims to ensure that the vehicle is safe. "Today we met to review the Orion spacecraft performance... it is exceeding performance expectations," said Mike Sarafin, head of the Artemis 1 mission.The spacecraft's four solar panels, about 13 feet (four meters) long, deployed correctly a...

Artemis 1 Moon mission pushed back, again

[ad_1] NASA is now targeting September 27 as the earliest possible launch date for its uncrewed Artemis 1 mission to the Moon, the agency said in a blog post Monday. The date would depend on engineering teams successfully carrying out a test to fuel up the Space Launch System rocket, and receive a waiver to avoid retesting batteries on an emergency flight system that is used to destroy the rocket if it strays from its designated range. If it does not receive the waiver, the rocket will have to be wheeled back to its assembly building, pushing the timeline back several weeks. For the September 27 date, a "70-minute launch window opens at 11:37 am EDT," while the mission would end with an ocean splashdown of the Orion capsule on November 5. A potential next da...