On April 10 (US time), the Orion spacecraft of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) safely landed in the Pacific Ocean, ending the nearly 10-day journey in space of the Artemis II mission. This is the first manned flight to bring humans to the area near the Moon after more than half a century.
The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, penetrated the Earth's atmosphere before deploying its parachute and receiving water off the coast of Southern California. The re-entry process lasted about 13 minutes with an outside temperature of about 2,760 degrees Celsius, creating a plasma layer that interrupted communication with the crew for a few minutes.
After the signal was restored, the deployed parachute system helped reduce the falling speed to about 25 km/h before the ship lightly landed at sea. Rescue teams were waiting to approach the ship, bringing 4 astronauts including Mr. Reid Wiseman, Mr. Victor Glover, Ms. Christina Koch and Mr. Jeremy Hansen back to the ship for support and initial medical examination.
The Artemis II mission flew a total distance of more than 1.1 million km, making 2 rounds around the Earth and one flight around the Moon at a distance of more than 400,000km. The crew reached a maximum distance of 406,771km from Earth, surpassing the previous record of Apollo 13.
The flight was launched from Cape Canaveral by the SLS (Space Launch System) space rocket, taking astronauts around the Moon. This is the first manned test step in the Artemis program series, aimed at preparing for the plan to bring humans back to the surface of the Moon by the end of this decade.
The mission also marked many milestones when Mr. Glover became the first black astronaut, Ms. Koch was the first female astronaut and Mr. Hansen was the first non-American to participate in the journey around the Moon.
Orion's safe return proves the ship's extremely high heat and pressure tolerance when reentering from lunar orbit. NASA has adjusted the landing orbit to reduce heat accumulation compared to previous tests.
Artemis II is considered an important preparation step for the long-term goal of building a sustainable human presence on the Moon, towards future Mars exploration missions.
