NASA Artemis 1 mission returns to Earth

NASA Artemis 1 mission successfully returns to Earth and ends the most successful year of 2022.

The NASA Artemis 1 mission has returned to Earth after a completely successful flight around the Moon. This Saturday at 6:40 pm French time, the Orion unmanned spacecraft touched down near Baja, California, completing a nearly 26-day journey in which the capsule broke the Apollo flight record and transmitted absolutely stunning photos from the natural satellite of the Earth..

NASA Artemis 1 mission successfully returns to Earth

On the way to the Pacific Ocean, Orion made an unprecedented maneuver. After entering the upper atmosphere, the capsule briefly used its own elevator to rise into the air before re-entering the atmosphere for a final descent. In doing so, the ship became the first spacecraft designed to carry people to perform such a maneuver.

“It’s an amazing day,”Administrator Bill Nelson exclaimed during NASA’s live broadcast of the event. “…This is one of those days that marks the emergence of new technologies, a whole new generation of astronauts, a vision of the future that imprints the DNA of Americans in particular, although we have gone through all this with the command world, and this DNA is: we are adventurers, we explorers, we always have a boundary, and today that boundary is to continue to explore the sky.”

Now that Orion has returned to Earth, NASA will begin to analyze all the data collected by the spacecraft during its 1.6 million voyage in space and prepare the Artemis II. This mission, currently scheduled for 2024, will send human astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft. Then, by 2025 or 2026, NASA hopes to make the first moon landing since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

Splash down.

After traveling 1.4 million miles in space, orbiting the Moon and collecting data that will prepare us to send astronauts on future #Artemis missions, the @NASA_Orion spacecraft has returned home. pic.twitter.com/ORxCtGa9v7

— NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2022

and ends the most successful 2022

The path here has not been easy. The Next Generation Space Launch System gave NASA a lot of trouble before it was able to safely deliver Artemis 1 on November 26. The US space agency spent most of the summer fixing fuel and engine leak problems. In the fall, Hurricane Jan and then Tropical Storm Nicole pushed back the launch of Artemis 1, but after all is said and done, the SLS delivered one of the most memorable rocket launches of decades.

All in all, the completion of Artemis 1 comes to the end of one of the most successful years for NASA. Other achievements in 2022 also included the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope and the first absolutely stunning photographs of space. The DART spacecraft also managed to change the asteroid’s orbit, which is important. Now the agency is looking to the moon and beyond.

Day 26 flight. Orion returns to Earth. 20,000 miles / 32,000 km from Earth. Driving at 15,500 km/h and accelerating. pic.twitter.com/EWCKXkChjg

— Orion Spacecraft (@NASA_Orion) December 11, 2022