Watch NASA's Artemis 1 Spacecraft, Moon and Earth In Same Shot During Close Approach
See footage Orion Spacecraft, moon and Earth shortly before its "outbound powered flyby burn". Orion was less than 2000 miles away from the moon and over 200,000 miles away from Earth.
Credit: Credit: NASA / edited by Space.com's Steve Spaleta
Credit: Credit: NASA / edited by Space.com's Steve Spaleta
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00 And here you are looking at a live view of the Orion spacecraft from the solar array wing with the moon in the distance of the screen,
00:12 the Earth in the distant frame of the screen, and the moon up close.
00:17 Again, we are now less than 2,000 miles away from the moon, but over 200,000 miles away from planet Earth.
00:25 Orion started its journey five days ago from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it launched aboard the Space Launch System.
00:40 Orion has been traveling to the moon ever since, performing checkouts of its systems as this is an uncrewed test flight.
00:49 It's critical that NASA tests out the hardware and systems aboard Orion ahead of flying a crew on board Artemis II.
00:59 [ Silence ]
01:09 [ Silence ]
01:19 [ Silence ]
01:29 [ Silence ]
01:39 [ Silence ]
01:49 [ Silence ]
01:59 [ Silence ]
02:09 [ Silence ]
02:19 [ Silence ]
02:29 [ Silence ]
02:39 [ Silence ]
02:49 [ Silence ]
02:59 [ Silence ]
03:09 [ Silence ]
03:19 [ Silence ]
03:29 [ Silence ]
03:39 [ Silence ]
03:49 [ Silence ]
03:59 [ Silence ]
04:09 [ Silence ]
04:19 [ Silence ]
04:29 [ Silence ]
04:39 [ Silence ]
04:49 [ Silence ]
04:54 Now less than four minutes away from our expected loss of signal as Orion travels behind the moon.
05:03 While behind the moon, Orion will perform the outbound powered flyby which the team here in mission control is ready for.
05:11 Flight Director Rick LeBroad pulled the team. Everyone is pulling go.
05:16 Everything still on track for the outbound powered flyby burn, now 20 minutes away.
05:24 This outbound powered flyby will send Orion close enough to the lunar surface to leverage the moon's gravitational force and swing the spacecraft once around the moon toward entry into distant retrograde orbit.
05:37 Following this, Orion will remain in the distant retrograde orbit for one long elliptical around the moon which will last about six days.
05:45 Now this is different than what was done during the Apollo program when the spacecraft orbited much closer to the moon.
05:53 Now this orbit is called distant due to the high altitude from the moon.
05:57 It's about 40,000 miles past the moon in its orbit.
06:01 This is actually 30,000 miles farther than the previous record set during Apollo 13 and will be the farthest in space any spacecraft built for humans will have ever flown.
06:13 This orbit is called retrograde because Orion will travel around the moon opposite the direction the moon travels around Earth.
06:23 Distant retrograde orbit provides a highly stable orbit where little fuel is required to stay for an extended trip in deep space and allows the opportunity to put Orion's systems to the test in an environment far from Earth.
06:39 We are now less than two minutes away from our anticipated loss of signal as Orion travels behind the moon.
06:46 [ Silence ]
06:56 [ Silence ]
07:24 As we continue to get live views here for the next minute or so we will potentially see the Earth start to go just behind the moon as Orion travels behind the moon.
07:37 We will not have Earth views of course because the moon will be blocking the Orion spacecraft.
07:45 However, we do anticipate an acquisition of signal at 6.59 a.m. central.
07:51 It is about a 34 minute loss of signal at which point we hope to regain communications with the spacecraft.
07:59 [ Silence ]
08:25 Five seconds away from our anticipated loss of signal.
08:31 And we do have loss of signal.
08:34 Again, this is a 34 minute, four second loss of signal.
08:40 [ Silence ]