The astronauts of the Orion ship, of the NASA Artemis II missionthey advance back to Earth at a speed never before experienced on a lunar trip. The rescue teams are prepared for the landing and put special focus on the 13 critical minutes that the crew must go through before arriving.
Orion, returning from a ten-day trip to the Moon, is approaching at a speed of approximately 25,000 miles per hour (40,233.6 km); a shocking number, since it is forty-five times greater than that of a commercial airplane.
On board the capsule, Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover y Jeremy Hansen They will feel their weight multiply by four during the fall. They will also face extreme temperaturesplacing all their hopes in the heat shieldone of the litmus tests of the Artemis II mission.
After more than eight minutes of risk of takeoff, NASA faces today a critical 13 minutes of re-entry once the capsule enters the Earth’s atmospherewhich will culminate with an Orion dive «a couple of hundred miles» off the coast of San Diego, California.
The Spanish engineer Carlos García-Galánresponsible for NASA’s Moon Base program, explained to EFE that launch and takeoff are the highest risk maneuvers. This return will allow reaching the necessary speed to test the heat shield which protects astronauts from «the extremely high temperatures generated by friction with the atmosphere upon entering Earth.»
«We can only achieve that speed if we go to the Moon,» he added about the final phase of this mission, which became the first manned mission to reach lunar orbit since 1972.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman He assured on Tuesday in a conference that he will not be calm until the four crew members return to their families and affirmed that he will be «thinking about thermal protection systems»: «As for what’s keeping me up at night, my blood pressure will be elevated until they’re parachuting into the water off the west coast.»
«I will be honest and say that I have actually been thinking about reentry since April 3, 2023, when we were assigned this mission,» he told the press. Rick HenflingFlight Director for the Return of Artemis. «It may sound funny, but it’s also literal: we have to go back«.
The phases before landing
Ditching is scheduled for 20:07 US Eastern Time (00:07 GMT Saturday) in an estimated area of 2,000 nautical miles (3,704 kilometers) in the Pacific.
Before entering the atmosphere, the capsule will separate from the service module 42 minutes before the dive, and 75 miles (about 120 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface, a dozen thrusters will ensure that it is correctly oriented.
This «fireball»as Glover called it, will enter the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of about 25,000 miles per hour (more than 40,230 kilometers per hour), decelerating at a rate of up to four times the force of gravity.
Testing Orion’s heat shield will be crucial to protect the capsule and its crew temperatures of around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius).
Orion will deploy in stages 11 parachutes. Deployed at about 2,700 meters and traveling at 130 miles per hour (210 kilometers per hour), these will slow to less than 20 miles (32 kilometers per hour).
After traveling some 400,000 nautical miles (more than 740,000 kilometers), Orion will splash down and be recovered by the US military. It will take 30 to 45 minutes to recover the astronauts.
Isaacman explained that «most of the heat protectants we have available are not the right long-term solution»and that «that is why we are increasing the pace of production, recovering normality and getting closer and closer to excellence.»
For its part, Lili Villarrealdirector of Landing and Recovery for Artemis, said divers will be the first to approach Orion to assess the air and water around it, and make sure it is safe for the four astronauts to exit.
They will help them climb onto an inflatable platform, where two helicopters pick them up and transfer them to the infirmary of a ship, to then do other medical check-ups on land and then transfer them to Houston (Texas). Meanwhile, Orion will be towed to the ship for its return to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
With information from EFE
