The Orion capsule left the Moon’s sphere of influence on Thursday, will make a critical entry maneuver into the Moon’s extended retrograde orbit on Friday, and will reach the farthest point of the mission in the coming days. Orion also transmitted pictures of lunar craters.
Orion is more than 350,000 km from Earth and has a speed of about 4,000 km/h.
On September 21, the engines successfully fired for 150 seconds, and the capsule made its first maneuver to successfully enter this elongated orbit around the Moon (called a deep retrograde orbit—DRO).
Orion enters DRO on November 25, after a brief engine start at 23:52 (Romanian time).
Orion will remain in this retrograde orbit for six days, during which the shuttle’s systems will be tested to predict what might go wrong when humans are inside the capsule during the Artemis 2 mission in 2024.
While in this orbit, Orion will fire its engines three times to make the necessary maneuvers to maintain its desired course.
November 26 will be an important symbolic moment: Orion will reach more than 400,000 km from Earth, surpassing the record set by the space shuttle Apollo 13 in 1970, the farthest point ever reached by a spacecraft capable of carrying humans.
On November 28, as part of the Artemis 1 mission, the maximum distance from Earth will be reached: 430,000 km.
On December 1, the European Service Module will maneuver Orion out of DRO, and on December 5, the capsule will make another close flyby of the lunar 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 it will be emotional for NASA employees: 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.
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