A view of the inside of the Artemis I Orion capsule. Image: NASA Television
Artemis I may now have sent the Orion spacecraft on its way to the Moon, but the hard work is far from over for NASA. After taking off early Wednesday morning with NASA’s Space Launch System, the Orion spacecraft has now completed its first calibrated burn to propel it towards the Moon for its 25-year mission, 5 days around the lunar surface.
Orion separated from the upper deck of SLS a few hours after takeoff and start burning through the lunar calendar lasting 18 minutes pushed it to the Moon. After detaching, it began flying with the European Space Agency (ESA) service module.
At 9:32 a.m. Wednesday, November 16, flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston performed an outward orbit correction record. using the ESA service module.
“The test ignited Orion’s main engine for the first time and adjusted the spacecraft’s course toward the Moon,” NASA noted in a blog post.
Also: What is Artemis? Everything you need to know about NASA’s new moon mission
Mission Control plans to make some more navigational adjustments along the way. NASA plans a second outer orbital burn-in on Thursday using extra thrusters. They will be used for most orbital correction burns.
Including other payloads of SLS 10 Small CubeSats for research focusing on the Moon, the Sun, a near-Earth asteroid, and the Earth.
According to NASA, these CubeSats are deployed using a timer from an adapter attached to the upper tier of the SLS.
Flight controllers in Houston also performed tests to verify that Orion’s four solar array wings performed according to the models and simulations that NASA used to design the wings. NASA tested this by firing the thrusters of Orion’s response control system. It wanted to see how the wings of the solar array responded to that particular activation sequence.
SLS and Orion have a combination of 55 engines and motors to eject Orion from the launch pad, orbit the Moon, and return to Earth.
NASA also calibrated optical positioning system and collect images using spaceships camera.
Artemis I is the first of several Artemis missions planned for the next decade. Artemis is an unfinished mission that will help inform future Artemis missions with crews for long-term deep space exploration.
