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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Orion splashes down in Pacific Ocean after trip around the moon

Dec. 11 (UPI) — NASA’s Orion capsule, after traveling 1.4 million miles through space, including orbiting the moon and collecting data, returned to Earth on Sunday.

The 25 1/2-day Artemis I mission landed in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California at 12:40 p.m.

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The Orion capsule was slated to splash down near San Diego, but NASA officials said Thursday that rain, wind and large waves had moved into that area.

The splashdown was on the 50th anniversary of the last Apollo moon landing in 1972.

The spacecraft traveled about 32 times the speed of sound — 24,850 miles per hour — as it hits the air . Compression waves cause the outside of the vehicle to heat to about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Also, there is a 5½-minute communications blackout.

The capsule is designed to hold astronauts but none were on this mission. NASA is planning to send humans to moon, likely in 2025, and then Mars. The Artemis II mission without humans is scheduled for 2024.

The spacecraft captured stunning pictures of Earth and, during two close flybys, images of the lunar surface and a mesmerizing “Earth rise.”

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Orion stayed in the orbit for about a week to test spacecraft systems.

The 3,000-ton Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft launched at 1:47 a.m. from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

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