Watch NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft return to Earth today (December 11)
NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion probe will return to Earth on Sunday (Dec. 11) after nearly a month in space, and you can watch the homecoming live.
Artemis 1is unmanned Orion The capsule is expected to break up in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California around 12:40 pm EST (1740 GMT) on Sunday.
You can watch live coverage of Orion’s reentry here on Space.com courtesy of NASA or directly through the space agency (opens in a new tab). Coverage will begin at 11:00 AM EST (4:00 PM GMT).
In the photos: Artemis 1 Launch: Incredible Views of NASA’s Moon Rocket Debut
Month: NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon Mission: Live Updates
Orion threw himself at the top a Space launch system (SLS) on November 16, starting the long-awaited Artemis 1 mission.
The capsule entered lunar orbit on November 25, then departed on December 1. Four days later, Orion fired its main engine in a 3.5-minute burn, the longest of the mission, during a close lunar flyby to return to its home planet.
The 25.5-day Artemis 1 mission will end on Sunday, 50 years to the day Apollo 17 Astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt landed on the lunar surface. The duo left on December 14, 1972, and no humans have returned the moon since
If all goes according to plan, Orion will strike earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean around 12:20 pm EST (1720 GMT) Sunday while traveling at 25,000 mph (40,000 km/h). This tremendous speed will generate a lot of friction; Orion’s heat shield will have to withstand temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,800 degrees Celsius), about half as hot as the sun’s surface.
The capsule will bounce briefly in the upper atmosphere and then descend again, like a rock skipping across the surface of a pond. After this jump, Orion will parachute down through the atmosphere, splashing down on the coast of Baja California around 12:40 pm EST (1740 GMT). A US Navy ship, the USS Portland, will be waiting nearby to retrieve the spacecraft and bring it to San Diego Harbor.
Re-entry will begin in the open Pacific, off the coast of South America, and Orion will head north from there. The remoteness of the capsule’s path, combined with the weather, i.e. during daylight hours, make this reentry a very hard target for observers on the ground, even those close to the launch site. sprinkled
“Will anyone see this in Baja?” Artemis 1 flight director Judd Frieling said during a press conference Thursday (Dec. 8). “There’s always a chance, but we’re pretty far offshore there, so I doubt it, unless you’re out there on a boat, 100 miles offshore or so.”
However, nearby observers may obtain auditory evidence that reentry has begun.
“You’re more likely to hear the sonic boom as the vehicle approaches than anything,” Artemis 1 mission manager Mike Sarafin said during Thursday’s briefing.
Artemis 1 is a hectic cruise for the SLS, Orion and their associated ground systems. If all goes well on Sunday, NASA can begin preparations Artemis 2which will send astronauts around the Moon in 2024.
Artemis 3 it is scheduled to land near the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026. Future missions at NASA Artemis program will build a research base in this region, which is believed to be rich in water ice.
The agency wants to have this outpost up and running by the late 2020s. NASA plans to use the knowledge gained from these lunar efforts to help astronauts March in the late 2030s or early 2040s.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there (opens in a new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or Facebook (opens in a new tab).
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