US space agency Nasa has brought its next-generation astronaut ship home after a nearly 26-day mission in orbit around the Moon.
The Orion capsule crashed in the Pacific Ocean after a fiery re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and a descent further slowed by parachutes.
No one was on board this time as it was a test, but that will change for the next flight.
NASA is planning ever more complex missions with Orion.
These will likely begin in late 2024 and include, in 2025 or 2026, an attempt to put humans back on the lunar surface.
This was last done precisely 50 years ago to the day by the crew of Apollo 17. The agency’s new project is called Artemis, who in Greek mythology was the sister of Apollo.
“[During Apollo], we did the impossible by making it possible,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson observed.
“Now we are doing it again, but for a different purpose, because this time we are going back to the Moon to learn how to live, work, invent, create, go to the cosmos to explore further. the plan is to prepare to go with humans on Mars at the end of the 2030s decade and even further,” he told reporters.
Mike Sarafin, the Artemis project manager who has been ubiquitous in press conferences for the past three weeks, couldn’t hide his joy at seeing a perfect splashdown: “My friends, this is what success looks like on the mission .”
