NASA’s Orion spacecraft docked in the Pacific Ocean today, marking the end of the Artemis 1 mission by spending more than 25 days in space and traveling around the Moon in preparation for returning humans to the Moon in the coming years.

The capsule, which had no astronauts for this test flight, entered the Earth’s atmosphere at nearly 40,000 kilometers per hour and had to withstand a temperature of 2,800 degrees Celsius, or half the temperature of the Sun’s surface. Its dizzying descent was then slowed down as a series of parachutes were deployed, according to images broadcast live by NASA. Now the spacecraft needs to be assembled and placed on a US Navy ship.

The docking took place in the open waters of the Mexican island of Guadalupe at 19.40 Greek time (9.40 local time).

splashdown.

Traveling 1.4 million miles in space, orbiting the Moon and collecting data that will prepare us to send astronauts into the future. #Artemis mission, @NASA_Orion spaceship at home. pic.twitter.com/ORxCtGa9v7

— NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2022

The mission’s main objective was to test the capsule’s heat shield, the largest ever built (5 meters in diameter), under these conditions.

Source: RES