NASA has released a film that shows the Artemis I spacecraft so far.
This presentation, which lasts 96 seconds, combines the best footage and photos from since. the mission’s launch on November 16. It can be viewed below:
NASA used its new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket — the most powerful space vehicle ever to have launched — to propel the uncrewed Orion spacecraft toward the moon in a mission designed to test the flight system for a crewed mission in about two years’ time.
The Orion flew so far within 80 miles of the moon’s surface. It also traveled farther than any other human-rated spacecraft. On Monday, it reached a distance 268,553 miles. The Apollo 13 mission set the record for distance at 248,655 miles in 1970.
Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator for exploration systems development, said in a tweet on Wednesday that “everything is going well,” adding that “the world’s most powerful rocket reached or exceeded all its performance targets, putting Orion on its course to the moon.”
Orion is due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean near the California coast on December 11, 2012. Artemis II, which will also use Orion, will send astronauts if NASA considers the mission successful.
We can also look forward to the highly anticipated Artemis III mission — possibly as early as 2025 — which will put onto the lunar surface the first woman and first person of color.
The broader goals of NASA’s Artemis program include building a permanent base on the moon to enable astronauts to live and work there, similar to how they spend time on the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit today. NASA suggests that the first human mission, possibly to Mars in 2030s, could be made from the moon.
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