Artemis-1: Orion made the first close flyby of the moon

(NASA / Twitter https://bit.ly/3V82kp1)

The Orion spacecraft made the first close flyby of the Moon, passing 130 kilometers from its surface.

The maneuver will allow the ship to enter a far retrograde lunar orbit, where it will spend a week testing its systems.

Orion was launched on November 16, when the SLS booster put it on a flight path to the moon.

The entire Orion flight will take 25.5 days, and it includes 10 cubesats, 4 of which will explore the moon.

During the flight to the Moon, Orion checked the operation of its systems, and also made three trajectory corrections before entering the Moon's Hill sphere

After that, the ship made another firing of the engines.

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LUNAR FLYBY
On November 21, the spaceship made a close flyby of the Moon, being at a minimum distance of 130 kilometers from the surface of the Earth's natural satellite

Then, Orion entered the shadow of the Moon, losing contact with the Earth for around half an hour.

Then the connection was restored. During the flyby, cameras mounted on the outer parts of the ship took a number of pictures of the Earth and the Moon.

This is the first of two maneuvers required for the spacecraft to enter a deep retrograde orbit around the Moon, due on November 25.

The ship will stay in this orbit for a week, after which it will make a second close flyby of the Moon and go back to Earth.

(NASA https://go.nasa.gov/3i2If4R)

Sources:

• NASA: https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2022/11/21/orion-successfully-completes-lunar-flyby-re-acquires-signal-with-earth/
• ScienceAlert: https://www.sciencealert.com/artemis-i-snapped-stunning-pics-of-a-setting-earth-on-its-first-lunar-flyby
• Steemit: https://steemit.com/hive-109160/@sarahjay1/orion-completes-trajectory-correction-maneuver-en-route-to-the-moon-photos

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