Orion takes a selfie on way to Sunday splashdown
NASA’s Orion Artemis 1 spacecraft snapped a series of beautiful selfie views with the cratered lunar surface and the crescent Earth rising against an eerie backdrop of the blackness of space as it conducted the critical return flyby powered (RPF) maneuver Monday, Dec. 5 – that irreversibly committed the capsule to depart lunar orbit and a return …
Orion conducts lunar flyby; captures Earth and Moon in photos
NASA’s new era of Artemis exploration continues gathering momentum as the unpiloted Orion crew capsule successfully completed its outbound powered flyby (OPF) engine burn Monday morning, Nov. 21, and made its closest flyby of the Moon – keeping the human space vehicle and Artemis 1 mission precisely on track for targeting its distant retrograde orbit …
Artemis era is underway as test flight launches to the Moon
The Artemis era of exploration officially opened with the spectacular nighttime blastoff of NASA’s mammoth SLS rocket for the first time on the Artemis 1 mission on Wednesday, Nov. 16, from the Kennedy Space Center on its maiden lunar test flight with the Orion crew capsule. The mission places America back on the path of …
Hurricane delays launch of Artemis to Nov. 16
While Hurricane Nicole did not cause any significant damage to NASA’s Artemis 1 rocket stack on Thursday, Nov. 10, the program managers have delayed the next launch to no earlier than Wednesday, Nov. 16. That amounts to a two-day delay from the prior target of just past midnight on Nov. 14. NASA decided to leave the …
NASA targeting Nov. 14 for next Artemis 1 launch attempt
NASA is targeting Monday, Nov. 14 as the date for the next launch attempt of the Artemis I mission with a nighttime liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon and back. The late-night launch window on Nov. 14 opens at 12:07 a.m. EST and …
Artemis second launch attempt set for Saturday afternoon
Following a scrub called on the first launch attempt of the Artemis I Moon rocket on Monday, Aug 29, NASA officials have reviewed their options and decided to make a second launch attempt this weekend. Liftoff of the Artemis 1 mission is now slated for Saturday, Sept. 3 at 2:17 p.m. EDT (18:17 UTC) from …