NASA’s Artemis spacecraft has landed on the moon. The Orion capsule will fly 130 km (80 miles) above the lunar surface and begin entering a larger orbit. The vehicle was unable to communicate with her for 34 minutes during this operation, which began at midnight 44 GMT that happened on the other side of the moon. When the signal returned, the spacecraft sent back an image of the Earth. NASA says the mission has “exceeded expectations” since its launch last week. NASA Flight Director Zebulon Scoville said:
“This is one of the days you’ve been thinking and dreaming about for so long. “This morning we watched the Earth sink behind the Moon, ready to run around the Moon in the next human-legal vehicle and bring humans back there in a few years. This is the turning point. The spacecraft zipped past the approaching Apollo 11, 12, and 14 landing sites. The Artemis mission began at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday with the launch of the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built. It put Orion on the path to the moon. The capsule has already sent back a few selfies on its journey.
Since this was a test flight, no astronauts were on board, instead, three dolls covered with thousands of sensors took off. “These sensors determine if the environment is okay for people,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. “So there are radiation sensors, motion sensors, accelerometers, things that we deeply care about as human payloads.” This is important. Because if the flight goes well, the astronauts will be on the next ride. The first goes into orbit around the moon, and then the third Artemis on his mission sends the first woman and the first black man to the moon’s surface. Close After her flyby, Orion swings further outward as it begins to orbit the moon.
On November 26, it is set to break the Apollo 13 distance record when it reaches 400,171 km (248,655 miles) from Earth. In two days, it will be more than 430,000 km (270,000 miles) from Earth. This is the farthest distance ever flown by a man-made spacecraft. The capsule will then begin its journey to Earth, returning to the Moon and heading back to Earth for a scheduled landing in the Pacific Ocean on December 11th.