NASA has begun unpacking the Orion spacecraft after its epic lunar mission.
Technicians have begun work at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida Orionstarted to remove the loads flying to the hatch month and return to the capsule Artemis 1 mission. This will take a lot of time.
“This week, technicians will remove nine avionics boxes from Orion, which will be upgraded later. Artemis 2first mission with astronauts,” NASA officials wrote in the update (opens in new tab) on Tuesday (January 10).
“In the coming months, technicians will remove any hazardous materials left on board. Once completed, the spacecraft will travel to NASA’s Glenn A. Armstrong Test Facility. [in Ohio] for cancellation-level acoustic vibration and other environmental testing,” he said.
Related: 10 of the best images from NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission
Artemis 1 started operating in November. 16 Aboard a Space Launch System rocket from KSC, it launched an uncrewed Orion into lunar orbit on a shakedown cruise. The mission, NASA’s first Artemis program The lunar exploration was completed when Orion splashed off the coast of Baja California in December. 11.
The capsule then traveled across the country in a truck, He returns to KSC on Dec. 30. Since then, crews have been inspecting Orion and its various systems to assess how they performed during the nearly 26-day Artemis 1 mission.
The capsule’s 16.5-foot-wide (5-meter) heat shield—the largest ever flown—is particularly noteworthy given the extreme conditions it will experience. As Orion re-enters Earth’s atmosphere in December. 11, the heat shield hardened to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,800 degrees Celsius), which is about half as hot as its surface. the sun.
These ongoing inspections will inform preparations for the Artemis 2 mission, which is scheduled to send astronauts around the Moon in 2024.
If all goes well with this flight, NASA can begin preparations Artemis 3, will land crew members near the moon’s south pole, where the agency plans to build a research outpost by the end of the decade. Artemis 3 is targeted for liftoff in 2025 or 2026.
Mike Wall is the author of “There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter. @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
