The Orion capsule on NASA’s Artemis 1 mission recently passed just 128 km above the Moon. Very important moments from this very close pass were also immortalized. The Orion spacecraft is now on its way back and is expected to land on Earth in a few days.The Artemis 1 mission is the first leg of NASA’s manned lunar missions. Before carrying out the manned Moon mission with the space agency Artemis 3, it conducted system and simulation tests with this mission. In the Orion vehicle, there are only inanimate models. Orion will host humans on the next mission, but for now it can only capture photos with the heavily modified GoPro Hero 4 camera on it.
Orion took high resolution photos of the Moon
The photos taken by Orion during its first close pass to the Moon look extremely fascinating. The crescent you see in the photo above is actually us. Normally we are used to seeing the Moon as a crescent, but this time the roles have been changed. You can review other photos taken from the gallery section at the end of the news.Commenting live from mission control in Houston, Sandra Jones said, “In this view, we see 8 billion human lives existing above our pale blue dot. And after a long journey, Orion is now returning home.”
NASA took these photos as the engines of the Orion rover were reignited to return to Earth. This maneuver will put Orion’s orbit into Earth’s gravity. As you may recall, NASA launched the Artemis 1 mission on November 15 via the Space Launch System.
Orion will land off the coast of California on December 11. The next mission, Artemis II, is scheduled to carry astronauts on a similar path to Artemis I in 2024, without landing on the Moon. Then, humans will finally set foot on the lunar surface again with Artemis III, scheduled to launch in 2025.
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