MIAMI.- After completing his historic task of orbiting the Moonthe astronauts of the mission Artemis II They left the influence place this Tuesday to return to Earth.
It is planned that americen next fridayafter becoming the first humans to orbit the Earth’s satellite in more than 50 years.
Artemis II: How do you get out of the influence of the Moon?
This moment occurs when the Orion capsulein which the four crew members travel: Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch y Victor Gloverfrom NASA, and Jeremy Hansenfrom the Canadian Space Agency, went from being pulled more strongly by the Moon to being dominated by Earth’s gravity.
“Orion left the lunar sphere of influence; That is, the point at which the Moon’s gravitational attraction is most intense,” the NASA control center reported in the official broadcast.
The astronauts already They are on their way to Earthwhere they are scheduled to land on Friday at 8:07 p.m. Eastern Time (18:07 central Mexico time) in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego (USA).
After leaving lunar influence, the crew of Artemis II shared details of your mission in a video conference with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, who are aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Artemis II’s Orion capsule makes history
The Orion capsule made history yesterday by becoming the first manned mission to orbit the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Although its four crew members did not descend to the lunar surface, as happened with Apollo 17, They flew over the Moon for seven hours taking photographs and observing the satellite’s ground while describing what they saw to NASA experts in Houston, Texas.
As part of this flyby, the ship Orion passed behind the Moon and approached 6,545 kilometers at its closest point to the surface.
In addition, he broke a record like the manned mission furthest from Earthwith an estimated 406,771 kilometers.
They see the hidden side of the Moon and a total solar eclipse
Apart from contemplate the hidden side of the Moonmuch more rugged than the part visible from Earth, the astronauts also observed a total solar eclipse that could not be appreciated on our planet.
Artemis II took off last Wednesday from Cape CanaveralFlorida, for a ten-day mission that marked the return of humans to lunar orbit after half a century.
This is the second mission of the Artemis programafter the unmanned flight in 2022, and precedes the next missions.
It is expected that astronauts step on the moon in 2028 and begin to establish a permanent presence on the natural satellite with a base, in addition to establishing the conditions for the exploration of Mars.
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