The Orion spacecraft successfully fired its main engine for 5 minutes and 50 seconds on Thursday, sending four astronauts on a free return trajectory around the Moon. For NASA and the Artemis II crew members, this marked a point of no return for more than a week.
Most Americans, in fact about three-quarters of the world’s population, have not seen humans leave low-Earth orbit in their lifetimes. The last time this happened was in 1972, with the last Apollo mission to the Moon.
The “translunar injection” burn of Orion’s main engine occurred about a day after the mission’s successful launch on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. This burn was the last major burn of Orion’s main engine and puts the crew on a course to fly around the Moon on Monday, return to Earth under lunar gravity, and land in the Pacific Ocean on Friday, April 10.
“Things are going very well right now,” said Lori Glaze, a senior NASA exploration official, during a news conference Thursday evening. “I don’t think we could be happier.”
The first day is full of activity.
The decision to leave Earth orbit came after a busy day aboard Orion during which the four-person crew; Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen powered the spacecraft’s propulsion and life support systems to ensure the vehicle was ready for an extended deep space mission.
Orion’s life support worked very well, said Howard Hu, NASA program manager for the Orion spacecraft. This included critical systems such as carbon dioxide “scrubbers” that remove exhaled gas from the cabin atmosphere, as well as water systems. There was a small problem with the Orion toilet during the initial check when it was supposed to be “wet” with water to prime the pump. Not enough water was introduced, so the pump did not respond. Once more water was added it started working fine.
