NASA’S ARTEMIS I MISSION CAPTURES CLOSEST IMAGES OF SURFACE OF THE MOON (PHOTOS)

Sat 26 November 2022:

As the Artemis 1 mission neared its closest approach to the Moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft transmitted back up-close images of the lunar body.

According to a post by NASA, Orion’s optical navigation system took the black-and-white pictures on the sixth day of the expedition. It captures images of the Moon and Earth at various distances and phases.

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This was the first time that such close images of the Moon were snapped by a “human-rated vessel since Apollo – 80 mi (128 km) above the lunar surface, NASA’s post said. The Apollo program had ended in 1975.

“Orion also passed over the landing spots from Apollo 11, 12, and 14 and is on its way toward a distant retrograde orbit, a high-altitude orbit that moves Orion in the opposite direction that the Moon travels around Earth,” it further said.

On Friday, the Orion will place the capsule in a high orbit around the moon, a critical step in the mission. After completing its mission, the spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on December 11.

The unmanned Artemis I mission aims to test NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft before sending humans to the Moon in the future. If this mission is successful, NASA will launch Artemis II, a human journey around the moon, in 2024.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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