On December 11 , the Artemis I mission close with the successful splashdown of theOrion capsulein the Pacific Ocean . The last of this military mission come on the 50thanniversary of the Apollo 17 lunar month landing – the last time humans walk on the surface of the Moon . The Artemis program aims to land homo , including the first woman and the first person of coloring , on the lunar aerofoil before the end of the X .
Artemis I was uncrewed for the specific purpose of testing the Orion space vehicle in preparation for next crewed missions . In its 25.5 days in orbit , thespacecraft went furtherthan any other human - grade blank vehicle ever has . The tests were continuous and even re - entry was among them : Hunter is the first spacecraft designed to carry humans to have performed a skip entrance play .
The starship entered the denser neighborhood of the atmosphere before bouncing out again , like a pit skip on a lake . It then re - entered precisely where it want to and with a lot less focal ratio . This allow the craft to go from about 40,000 kilometers an hour ( almost 25,000 miles per hour ) to 40 km / h ( 25 mph ) .
Orion in the water off the coast of Baja California. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
“ Orion has render from the Moon and is safely back on major planet Earth , ” Mike Sarafin , Artemis I mission director say in astatement . “ With splashdown we have successfully operated Orion in the deep space surroundings , where it exceeded our expectations , and demonstrated that Orion can withstand the extreme condition of returning through Earth ’s atmosphere from lunar velocity . ”
In the come days , the condensation will be taken to NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center to remove cargo . For several month it will be studied in detail to make certain it is utterly quick to carry astronaut around the Moon as part of the Artemis II commission , hopefully in recent 2024 .
Orion successfully recovered inside the well deck of the USS Portland. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
