NASA - ARTEMIS 1 Mission patch.
Dec 30, 2022
After its 1.4-million-mile mission beyond the Moon and back, the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrived back at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Dec. 30. The capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11 and was transported by truck across the country from Naval Base San Diego in California to Kennedy’s Multi Payload Processing Facility in Florida.
Image above: At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5 day mission to the Moon. Orion will be recovered by NASA’s Landing and Recovery team, U.S. Navy and Department of Defense partners aboard the USS Portland. Image Credits: NASA/James M. Blair.
Now that Orion is back at Kennedy, technicians will remove payloads from the capsule as part of de-servicing operations, including Commander Moonikin Campos, zero-gravity indicator Snoopy, and the official flight kit. Orion’s heat shield and other elements will be removed for extensive analysis, and remaining hazards will be offloaded.
Artemis I was a major step forward as part of NASA’s lunar exploration efforts and sets the stage for the next mission of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion to fly crew around the Moon on Artemis II.
Related article:
Splashdown! NASA’s Orion Returns to Earth After Historic Moon Mission
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/12/splashdown-nasas-orion-returns-to-earth.html
Related links:
Artemis I: http://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1
Commander Moonikin Campos: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/purposeful-passenger-artemis-i-manikin-helps-prepare-for-moon-missions-with-crew
Orion Spacecraft (NASA): https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html
Artemis Program: https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram
Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Madison Tuttle.
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