Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, November 22 (Xinhua)-- the NASA Space launch system (SLS) launched the Orion spacecraft at 14:47 on November 16, Beijing time. The mission, called Artemis 1, is an unmanned test mission around the moon, preparing for the follow-up of Artemis 2 and Artemis 3.

After a five-day flight, the Orion manned spacecraft arrived on the moon on the evening of November 21 and took this picture near the back of the moon, 130 kilometers from the moon's surface.

According to reports, Orion is now nearly 270,000 miles (430000 kilometers) from Earth and will soon surpass the distance record set by Apollo 13. Previously, NASA thought it would break the record for the farthest flight of any manned spacecraft from Earth.

It is worth mentioning that Orion's entry into lunar orbit is a critical move because it marks a critical test of the propulsion system. NASA said the burning was the first of two operations needed to enter a "remote retrograde orbit" (DRO) around the moon.

During the flight to the moon, cameras inside and outside the spacecraft will record the scene, including pictures of the moon, Earth and Orion itself. "it's going to be spectacular," said Rick Labrador, the project's chief flight director.

According to reports, Orion made four orbital correction burns on its way to the moon, but this time, its orbital maneuver system engine burned for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, giving it an acceleration of more than 580 mph.

Labrador said earlier that the flyby would actually send Orion to the planned remote retrograde orbit so that it could reduce fuel consumption as much as possible.

When acceleration began, the unmanned spacecraft was flying at a speed of 5023 miles per hour, 238 miles above the moon. Shortly after it began to accelerate, it reached a speed of 5102 miles per hour when it reached 81 miles (130.36 kilometers) above the moon's surface.

CTOnews.com learned that Orion lost contact for a while when it passed behind the moon (07:26 local time) and then regained the signal at 07:59. NASA said it would spend six to 19 days in DRO to collect data and allow mission controllers to evaluate the performance of the spacecraft.

"DRO will enable Orion to spend more time in deep space on rigorous missions to ensure spacecraft systems, such as guidance, navigation, communications, power, thermal control, etc., to prepare for the safety of astronauts in future manned missions," said Mike Salafin, mission manager at Artemis.

Flight commander Jeff Ladigan said a second engine burning would take place in four days, sending Orion into a distant lunar orbit and eventually placing the spacecraft in Earth's return orbit. If all goes according to plan, Orion will set into the Pacific Ocean on December 11.

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