The second of the two course correction maneuvers is scheduled for Friday, November 25, at 4:52 p.m, with the orbital maneuvering system engine on the European Service Module again kicking in. This maneuver will place Orion into the distant retrograde orbit, where it will stay for about a week while NASA conducts further tests of the system. The spacecraft will travel 40,000 miles (64,000 km) past the Moon before it heads back. Orion is supposed to depart DRO on December 1 and arrive back on Earth on December 11.
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“Overall,” Artemis 1 has been “a very clean mission,” Jeff Radigan, flight director at NASA, told reporters during a briefing on Friday. The team worked its way through 13 anomalies, said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager, most of which are “relatively benign.” Sarafin added that Orion is “exceeding expectations.” Jim Geffre, Orion vehicle integration manager, said the spacecraft is collecting more power, exhibiting better heat rejection, and using less power than anticipated.
More on this story: What’s Next for the Orion Spacecraft as It Cruises Toward the Moon.
Artemis 1 is a demo mission in which NASA is evaluating its new Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft, the latter of which must still survive reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. A successful mission would set the stage for Artemis 2, in which a crew will attempt a similar trip to the Moon and back, and Artemis 3, which seeks to land a man and woman on the lunar surface later this decade.
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