The Orion capsule is now nearly 200,000 km from Earth and has four days to reach the Moon. He sent back the first photos, and there are still some highlights from the nearly four-week mission. What are the key points to review?

The capsule was successfully launched on Wednesday morning and is now traveling at about 5,000 km/h and nearly 300,000 km from the moon.

In total, by December 11, when it is scheduled to return to Earth, Orion will travel about 2 million km.

After weeks of technical problems and hurricanes, NASA launched the most powerful rocket in history

In four days, it will reach the Moon, and on November 21, it will approach the surface of the Moon at the shortest distance: 100 km.

On November 25, Orion’s propulsion system will fire briefly to launch the capsule into a deep retrograde orbit (DRO), where it will remain for several days 61,000 km from the lunar surface.

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On November 28th, an important symbolic moment will occur: Orion will reach the edge of the Moon at a distance of 483,000 km from Earth, the farthest point ever reached by a spacecraft capable of carrying people. The previous record belongs to the Apollo 13 mission (April 1970).

On December 1, the European service module will perform a maneuver, thanks to which Orion will leave the GDR, and on the 5

In December, the capsule will make another close flyby of the Moon’s surface

The final power-up will put Orion on a trajectory toward Earth, a trip that will last nearly six days.

December 11 is the day of the return to Earth, and for NASA employees it will be emotional: the entry into the atmosphere will take place at a speed of almost 40 thousand km / h, and the heat shield will have to withstand 2700 C. High-performance parachutes must open to slow down the capsule’s fall as much as possible in ocean.