​The Orion capsule successfully reached another mission milestone, as it was briefly at 6:42 p.m. just 128 km from the Moon’s surface, closer than it was on the sixth day of the mission. Immediately, the engines fired for 3 minutes and 27 seconds for Orion to enter the precise trajectory to Earth. The return to Earth is scheduled for December 11.
Orion capsule and MoonPhoto: NASA
Two hours before the decisive maneuver, Orion was 7,000 km from the surface of the Moon and had a speed of 6,400 km/h.
We remind you that Orion was launched on November 16 and reached the Moon on the 21st.
Orion re-entered the Moon’s sphere of influence on December 3 and will exit it on December 6, when it will have five days until it returns to Earth.
On December 4, at 6:43 p.m., Orion made another trajectory correction and slightly increased speed.
The last important maneuver of the mission was on December 5, at 6:43 p.m., a maneuver that changed Orion’s speed by 1,000 km/h. After this maneuver of 3 minutes and 27 seconds, only minor trajectory corrections will follow for the next few days.
The maneuver was performed by the engines (OMS Orbital Maneuvering System), built by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
After that maneuver, NASA lost contact with Orion for 30 minutes because the module was behind the Moon. The connection was resumed at 19.13. At 19:16 Orion was 2,000 km from the surface of the Moon.
On Monday, Orion came within 128 km of the moon’s surface after several days of orbiting at tens of thousands of km. The mission is almost 26 days long and we are on day 20. On November 21st it was found 130.3 km from the surface of the Moon.
December 11 is the day of the return to Earth, and it will be with emotions for those from NASA: the re-entry into the atmosphere will be done at a speed of almost 40,000 km/h, and the heat shield will have to withstand 2,700 C. The high-performance parachutes must open, to slow the capsule’s fall into the ocean as much as possible.
