Relive NASA’s epic Artemis 1 moon mission in a spotlight reel exhibiting launch to touchdown.
The video opens with the previously-unflown Space Launch System flawlessly launching the Orion spacecraft and sending it on to the moon on Nov. 16, demonstrating the primary main purpose of bringing a human-rated spacecraft to space.
Following launch, the spotlight reel then follows Orion on its 25.5-day journey for Artemis 1, demonstrating it may fly in a distant retrograde orbit across the moon and safely come again to Earth once more. The video then ends with the ultimate check of re-entry and splashdown on Sunday (Dec. 11), which noticed Orion’s 11 parachutes open in sequence for mushy descent to the Pacific Ocean.
In images: 10 greatest images from NASA’s Artemis 1 mission
The gate-opener mission for the bigger Artemis program produced gorgeous footage all through its mission, showcasing the Earth and the moon in gorgeous views. Moonsets, Earthrises and a photobombing spacecraft all featured in live footage that NASA streamed from deep space, making us all really feel like astronauts for a month.
Whereas viewers additionally bought to trip together with the Apollo program, the footage of the Sixties and Seventies was largely delivered after the very fact. And even for these missions that beamed again footage in shade, it actually wasn’t in 4K. Nor have been we in a position to have a “Star Wars” second with the launch abort system ripping away within view of a video positioned within the cockpit.
Months of study on Artemis 1 will comply with after NASA secures the spacecraft, which is able to make its approach to Florida by street from San Diego after the U.S. Navy brings it ashore from its Pacific Ocean splashdown website. The teachings discovered from this mission will inform Artemis 2, which is able to convey a crew of astronauts across the moon no sooner than 2024.
The subsequent mission shall be a key check of life support systems forward of Artemis 3, which is able to convey astronauts all the way down to the moon’s floor in 2025 or so. As NASA continues to construct out Artemis missions, it’s going to even be creating the Gateway space station to assist floor operations from lunar orbit.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a e book about space medication. Observe her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
