Forward to the Moon At 07:47 CET (01:47 local time), the A | ASTRONOMY
Forward to the Moon
At 07:47 CET (01:47 local time), the Artemis I mission started its voyage to the Moon as NASA's new Moon rocket lifted off from nasakennedy in Florida, USA, and put the Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module into Earth orbit.
The spacecraft spent two hours circling Earth before being boosted towards the Moon. The spacecraft is in good health and all systems are operating as expected as it now begins its ten-day cruise to our natural satellite.
The Artemis I mission will see Orion and the European Service Module on a 26-day mission to the Moon and back. It will spend around a week orbiting the Moon, with the European Service Module firing its 33 engines to keep the spacecraft on course and in the best position to receive sunlight on the four 7-m long solar arrays.
The European Service Module also keeps the spacecraft operating at correct temperatures and holds all the fuel tanks for the engines. In future Artemis missions, the European Service Module will deliver air and water to the astronauts working in the Orion’s crew module.
Throughout the mission, personnel based at our technical heart in The Netherlands are on-hand to provide expertise and in-depth knowledge of the European Service Module to the main mission control at nasajohnson, in Houston, USA.
Artemis I will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, USA. The European Service Module separates and burns up harmlessly in the atmosphere shortly before the Orion crew module splashes down.
@nasa
ESA-S. Corvaja
https://t.me/astronomy
