NASA's Orion space capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a crew-less voyage around the moon and back
Dec 11 - NASA's Orion capsule barreled through Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific ocean on Sunday after making an uncrewed voyage around the moon, winding up the inaugural mission of the U.S. agency's new Artemis lunar program 50 years to the day after Apollo's final moon landing.
A U.S. military helicopter and a group of fast boats approached the capsule after splashdown for inspections that will last roughly two hours. Standing by some 5 miles away was the USS Portland, a U.S. Naval vessel that will welcome Orion aboard to transport the capsule to San Diego, California. Atmospheric friction slowed the capsule from 24,500 miles per hour to 325 mph, followed by two sets of parachutes that helped brake its speed to an expected 20 mph at splashdown. The capsule showed a "perfect" descent rate, Navias said.
Though the capsule encountered some unexpected communication blackouts and an electrical issue during its voyage around the moon, NASA has given high marks to the performance of both SLS and Orion so far, boasting that they exceeded the U.S. space agency's expectations. "It is our priority-one objective," NASA's Artemis I mission manager Mike Sarafin said at a briefing last week. "There is no arc-jet or aerothermal facility here on Earth capable of replicating hypersonic re-entry with a heat shield of this size."
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