WASHINGTON: The unmanned test of the Artemis-1 mission, the dream project of the American space agency NASA to put a man on the moon after Apollo, has been successful.
Orion, an unmanned lunar probe launched as part of Artemis-1, landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, Mexico at 11.10 pm IST yesterday after a 25-day mission.
NASA researchers began observations at sea aboard Orion, which is being transferred to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion dropped into the sea with its parachutes opening in order and slowing down.
Orion began its return journey to Earth on December 5. Orion traveled a total of 1.3 million miles and returned to Earth at a speed of 25,500 miles per hour. Orion's service module had separated in space.
Success - at a glance
Record breaking
Orion holds the record for the spacecraft with the highest distance covered. Orion, which traveled 4,34,500 km from Earth, broke the record set by Apollo 13 launched in 1970. Apollo traveled 4,00,171 km with 13 astronauts. Orion came within 127 km of the moon.
What now?
Artemis-II, 2024 (will have 4 passengers. Will fly close to the Moon and return several times)
Artemis-III, 2025 (4 passengers. They will land on Mars)
Coincidence
The last mission of the Apollo series, Apollo 17, landed on the moon on the same day (December 11, 1972) and after 50 years, Orion reached the earth.