NASA's Artemis I mission finally took off on Wednesday, November 16, with the maiden flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule from Kenedy Space Center in Florida's space coast. Orion is now on its way to the Moon for its 25-day journey and is expected to log 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) before returning home.
Per Gizmodo's report, the Orion capsule captured a sweet view of Earth glimmering in a soft shade of blue against its dark backdrop before saying goodbye during the first hours of NASA's uncrewed spacecraft carrying a few mannequins.
Orion spacecraft in space with its four solar arrays spread widely.
First Glimpse of Earth From Orion Capsule
The SLS' two stages separated eight minutes after liftoff while the rocket's upper stage continued to blast the Orion capsule to Earth's orbit. Ten minutes later, the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that the spacecraft deployed its X-shaped solar array in a Twitter post.
A few moments later, Orion sends its first anticipated images to Earth from the 16 cameras attached to the spacecraft's four 23-foot-long (7 meters) solar wings. The photo posted on NASA's official Twitter page was captured when the Orion capsule was 58,000 miles (93,340 kilometers) away from Earth.
It took a low-resolution image of some parts of the spacecraft while still attached to the SLS second stage that later on accelerated the capsule to the Moon. A NASA statement said that the cameras are commercial off-the-shelf technology that has been modified to capture images in space.
ESA shared several short videos of the second stage separation one hour and 55 minutes after lift-off, showing it floating away in the blackness of space. Following its separation, the capsule began its journey to the Moon.
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Greatest Distance Achieved by a Human-Made Spacecraft
NASA said that the spacecraft is expected to reach the Moon by November 22 but not landing as it flies about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface. The Orion capsule will then use the gravitational force of the Moon to take it to the opposite side.
If successful, Orion spacecraft will break a record for the greatest distance from Earth ever achieved by a human-made spacecraft, surpassing Apollo 13's mission in April 1970 that flew at a distance of 248,654 miles (400,170 km).
According to Space.com, that distance was a result of an emergency operation when an onboard explosion forced the crew to devise a rescue plan to return the spacecraft to Earth.
Orion is expected to return home on December 11, splashing into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. It carries two mannequins, namely Healga and Zohar, which occupies the capsule during its test flight to measure cosmic radiation that astronauts might encounter in future missions.
It will be followed by the Artemis 2 mission which is expected to take place in 2024 and will be the first crewed mission of the Artemis Program. But it will not land astronauts on the Moon's surface as that goal will be for the Artemis 3 mission in 2025.
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