A portion of the far side of the Moon looms big just beyond the Orion spacecraft in this image taken on the 6th day of the Artemis I mission by a video camera on the idea of one of Orions solar arrays. The 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 objective by a camera on the tip of one of Orions solar varieties. The orbit is “remote” in the sense that its at a high elevation from the surface area of the Moon, and its “retrograde” because Orion will travel around the Moon opposite the instructions the Moon takes a trip around Earth. Following an effective launch on NASAs Space Launch System at 1:47 a.m. EST Wednesday, November 16, Orion is in orbit around the Moon as the first objective of the Artemis program. The Earth is seen rising from behind the shadowed surface area of the Moon in this video taken on the sixth day of the Artemis I objective by a cam on the idea of one of Orions solar arrays.
” The mission continues to continue as we had actually planned, and the ground systems, our operations teams, and the Orion spacecraft continue to exceed expectations, and we continue to discover along the way about this brand-new, deep-space spacecraft,” stated Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission supervisor, in a November 21 briefing (see the video embedded below) at Johnson Space Center.
Orion will get in a remote retrograde orbit beyond the Moon on Friday, November 25 with the 2nd maneuver, called the distant retrograde orbit insertion burn. The orbit is “distant” in the sense that its at a high elevation from the surface area of the Moon, and its “retrograde” since Orion will travel around the Moon opposite the direction the Moon travels around Earth. This orbit offers an extremely stable orbit where little fuel is needed to stay for a prolonged trip in deep space to put Orions systems to the test in a severe environment far from Earth.
NASA hosted a news conference at 5 p.m. EST on Monday, November 21, from the agencys Johnson Space Center in Houston to go over Orions outgoing powered flyby burn and supply an upgrade on post-launch assessments from the Space Launch System and Exploration Ground Systems. Artemis I Mission Manager Mike Sarafin, Flight Director Judd Frieling, and Orion Program Manager Howard Hu took part. Following a successful launch on NASAs Space Launch System at 1:47 a.m. EST Wednesday, November 16, Orion is in orbit around the Moon as the first objective of the Artemis program. Flight controllers conducted an outgoing powered flyby burn at 7:44 a.m. EST (12:44 UTC) on Monday to harness the force from the Moons gravity, accelerate the spacecraft, and direct it towards a far-off retrograde orbit beyond the Moon. Throughout the maneuver, Orion made its closest lunar approach, flying about 81 miles above the lunar surface area. Orion re-acquired signal with NASAs Deep Space Network, at 7:59 a.m. EST after successfully carrying out the outgoing powered flyby burn at 7:44 a.m. EST with a shooting of the orbital maneuvering system engine for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Credit: NASA
Orion will travel about 57,287 miles (92,195 km) beyond the Moon at its farthest point from the Moon on November 25, passing the record set by Apollo 14 for the farthest range traveled by a spacecraft developed for humans at 248,655 miles (400,171 km) from Earth on Saturday, November 26, and reach its optimum distance from Earth of 268,552 miles (432,193 km) on Monday, November 28.
Since Monday, November 21, a total of 3,715.7 pounds of propellant has been utilized, 76.2 pounds less than prelaunch expected values. There are 2,112.2 pounds of margin readily available over what is prepared for usage during the objective, a boost of 201.7 pounds from prelaunch anticipated worths.
The Earth is seen increasing from behind the shadowed surface of the Moon in this video handled the sixth day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the idea of one of Orions solar ranges. The spacecraft had just effectively carried out the Outbound Powered Flyby maneuver which brought it within 80 miles of the lunar surface, the closest method of the uncrewed Artemis I objective, before moving into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. Credit: NASA
Just after 2:45 p.m. CST on November 21, Orion had traveled 216,842 miles (348,973 km) from Earth and was 13,444 miles (21,636 km) from the Moon, travelling at 3,489 miles per hour (5,615 km per hour).
Follow along and track Orion by means of the Artemis Real-Time Orbit Website, or AROW, and watch live video footage from the spacecraft.
A portion of the far side of the Moon looms big simply beyond the Orion spacecraft in this image handled the sixth day of the Artemis I objective by an electronic camera on the suggestion of among Orions solar varieties. The spacecraft went into the lunar sphere of influence Sunday, November 20, making the Moon, rather of Earth, the main gravitational force acting upon the spacecraft. On Monday, November 21, it came within 80 miles of the lunar surface area, the closest method of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, prior to moving into a far-off retrograde orbit around the Moon. The darkest area visible near the middle of the image is Mare Orientale. Credit: NASA
NASA Artemis I– Flight Day Six: Orion Performs Lunar Flyby, Closest Outbound Approach
On its 6th day into the Artemis I mission, Orion effectively completed its fourth orbital trajectory correction burn using the auxiliary engines at 1:44 a.m. CST ahead the very first of 2 maneuvers required to go into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. The very first 3 trajectory correction burns offered an opportunity to fire all 3 thruster types on Orion with the first using the large orbital maneuvering system engine, the second utilizing the small response control system thrusters, and the 3rd using the medium-sized auxiliary engines.
Orion finished the outbound powered flyby at 6:44 a.m. CST, passing about 81 miles above the surface at 6:57 a.m. The spacecrafts speed increased from 2,128 mph (3,425 km/h) before the burn to 5,102 mph (8,211 km/h) after the burn. Shortly after the outgoing flyby burn, the spacecraft passed about 1,400 miles (2,300 km) above the Apollo 11 landing site at Tranquility Base at 7:37 a.m. Orion later on flew over the Apollo 14 site at about 6,000 miles (9,600 km) in altitude and after that over the Apollo 12 website at an altitude of about 7,700 miles (12,400 km).
The Earth is seen setting from the far side of the Moon just beyond the Orion spacecraft in this video taken on the 6th day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the pointer of one of Orions solar ranges. The spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence on Sunday, November 20, making the Moon, instead of Earth, the primary gravitational force acting on the spacecraft.
