After its 1.4-million-mile mission beyond the Moon and back, the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission arrived back at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Dec. 30. The capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11 and was transported by truck across the country from Naval Base San Diego in California to Kennedy's Multi Payload Processing Facility in Florida.
Now that Orion is back at Kennedy, technicians will remove payloads from the capsule as part of de-servicing operations, including Commander Moonikin Campos, zero-gravity indicator Snoopy, and the official flight kit. Orion's heat shield and other elements will be removed for extensive analysis, and remaining hazards will be offloaded.
Artemis I was a major step forward as part of NASA's lunar exploration efforts and sets the stage for the next mission of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion to fly crew around the Moon on Artemis II.
Related Links
Artemis Program
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com
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North Korea conducts 'final-stage test' for spy satellite: state media
Seoul (AFP) Dec 19, 2022
North Korea carried out an "important final-stage test" for the development of a spy satellite, which it will complete by April next year, state media said on Monday. The report comes a day after Seoul's military said it had detected launches by Pyongyang of two medium-range ballistic missiles, the North's latest in a year of unprecedented weapons tests. Analysts say developing such a satellite would provide North Korea with cover for testing banned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), a ... read more