Flyby

By all accounts, NASA’s Artemis I mission has been going extraordinarily well, setting up the space agency for a crewed landing on the lunar surface possibly as soon as 2025. The mission started on November 16 with the maiden flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the most powerful space vehicle ever to have flown. The SLS propelled the uncrewed Orion toward the moon where it performed flybys of Earth’s nearest neighbor at the start and end of the spacecraft’s time in lunar orbit. The second of these…

Orion just made its final pass around the moon on its way to Earth, and NASA has released some of the spacecraft's best photos so far. Taken by a high-resolution camera (actually a heavily modified GoPro Hero 4) mounted on the tip of Orion's solar arrays, they show the spacecraft rounding the Moon then getting a closeup shot of the far side.  The photos Orion snapped on its first near pass to the Moon were rather grainy and blown out, likely because they were captured with Orion's Optical Navigation Camera rather than the…

Orion has completed its flyby burn, committing the spacecraft to a December 11 splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Image: NASAOn its 19th dayin space, NASA's Artemis I Orion spacecraft completed its final pass of the moon at 80.6 miles from the lunar surface en route back to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, due in a few days' time. Almost everything went to plan on Monday as mission control in Houston set the stage for Orion's return, powered by a lunar flyby burn, where it flew close enough to the Moon to…

On December 5, 2022, Orion completed the return powered flyby burn, committing the spacecraft to a December 11 splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Credit: NASA<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for…

Orion’s view of the Moon, taken approximately 1 hour prior to today’s lunar flyby. Screenshot: NASA TVThere are less than six days left in the Artemis 1 mission and the time has come for the uncrewed Orion spacecraft to perform one last close flyby of the Moon and execute a major course correction. You can follow along live right here.During the close lunar flyby, slated for Monday, December 5 at 11:42 a.m. (all times Eastern), Orion will come within 72.9 miles (117.3 kilometers) of the Moon’s surface. The burn will…

NASA’s Orion spacecraft has traveled nearly 270,000 miles away from Earth on its distant orbit of the moon, and soon it will be heading back toward Earth. But before it splashes down on Earth it has to make a return flyby of the moon, scheduled for Monday, December 5. NASA’s Artemis I Mission Return Trip Lunar Flyby Coverage of Orion’s return flyby will be livestreamed by NASA if you’d like to follow along at home. For details on how to watch the return flyby, check out our guide below. What to expect from the flyby…

Illustration of BioSentinel’s spacecraft flying past the Moon. Credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter<span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space…

By SciTechDaily November 27, 2022https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd9HF0xTQG8The Earth is seen setting from the far side of the Moon just beyond the Orion spacecraft in this video taken on the sixth day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the tip of one of Orion’s solar arrays. The spacecraft was preparing for the Outbound Powered Flyby maneuver which would bring it within 80 miles of the lunar surface, the closest approach of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, before moving into a distant retrograde orbit around the…

Washington, November 23 NASA's Orion spacecraft has successfully performed its first Moon flyby as part of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, to pass within 130 km of the lunar surface. According to NASA, on its sixth day into the Artemis I mission, Orion successfully completed its fourth orbital trajectory correction burn using the auxiliary engines ahead of the first of two manoeuvres required to enter a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. The Orion spacecraft…

The Orion spacecraft made its first close flyby of the Moon on Monday 21 November, coming as close as 81 statute miles (130 kilometers) from the lunar surface.As the Artemis 1 mission's uncrewed spacecraft flew past the far side of the Moon, Orion's orbital maneuvering system engine fired for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to successfully put the capsule into the desired orbit for the mission, called a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon."This burn is setting Orion up to orbit the Moon, and is largest propulsive event so…