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On November 16 final yr, NASA achieved the first-ever launch of its next-generation lunar rocket, the House Launch System (SLS), within the Artemis I mission.
The rocket carried to house the brand new Orion capsule, which journeyed all the way in which to the moon — after which past — in a crewless flight to check its techniques.
Ten days after launch — and a yr in the past this week — the crewless Orion spacecraft broke the present 248,655-mile document for the furthest distance traveled from Earth by a crew-capable spacecraft, set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
And only a few days after that, Orion set a brand new distance document by a crew-capable spacecraft when it reached a distance of 268,553 miles from Earth, which additionally put it 43,051 miles from the moon.
The profitable voyage ended with the Orion splashing down within the Pacific Ocean on December 11, and paved the way in which for the Artemis II mission, which is scheduled to happen in precisely a yr from now.
In contrast to Artemis I, Artemis II will carry a crew of 4 astronauts. The Orion carrying the Artemis II crew will observe the identical route as Artemis I, coming to inside about 80 miles of the lunar floor whereas additionally heading previous the moon to a distance much like that reached by the spacecraft final yr.
Following Artemis II, NASA is aiming to land the primary girl and first individual of shade on the lunar floor within the Artemis III mission, at the moment set for 2025.
In that mission, Orion is not going to land on the moon however as a substitute rendezvous with Starship HLS, a lSpaceX-built lander that’s based mostly on the design of its Starship spacecraft. The Orion astronauts will switch to the Starship HLS, which is able to transport them to the lunar floor for a historic touchdown.
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