Spray Orion at the right time after Artemis’ first mission on the Moon

Orion’s return to Earth came 50 years after the Apollo 17 spacecraft touched down on the moon in Taurus Litro Valley in 1972, the last human mission. According to the space agency, it was the beginning of a series of missions that will be piloted as part of the Artemis program by a new generation NASA astronauts.

The Space Launch System rocket and its spacecraft had technical problems that caused the flight to be repeatedly delayed. NASA officials stated that the 26-day, 1.4 million-mile mission went “extremely smoothly,” starting with the November 16 launch and ending with flights that brought Orion within 80 miles of the lunar surface. This was just above the Apollo 11 landing area. The base of calm.

“From Tranquility Base to Taurus-Littrow to the calm waters of the Pacific, the final chapter of NASA’s journey to the Moon is approaching. Orion, come back to Earth,” NASA’s Rob Navias said during the agency’s live broadcast of the event.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated that it was “historic” because we are now going back into space and deep space with a new generation. He stated that the successful mission marked a new era. “An era that marks new technologies, a whole new breed astronauts and a vision of the future.”

Now that the spacecraft is safely home, NASA will immediately begin evaluating the data collected on the flight and preparing for the Artemis II mission — which will put a crew of astronauts aboard the spacecraft for another flight into lunar orbit. NASA hopes to launch the mission in 2024. They also hope to land on the moon in 2025 or 2026. This will be the first time humans have walked on the moon’s surface since the last Apollo mission.

The astronaut crew has already switched to Orion and Moon flights after decades of training.

Sunday morning’s crash into Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 32 times the speed the sound, was one of the most important tests for Orion spacecraft. Friction generated extreme temperatures—5,000 degrees Fahrenheit—that stressed the capsule’s heat shield. The spacecraft was then lowered by a series parachutes, which landed it in the ocean at 20 miles an hour.

Nelson said that the heat shield performed “outstanding” and Navias stated that the descent was “textbook.”

NASA is now on the verge of a breakthrough after years of stagnation in its human spaceflight program. NASA had to rely upon Russia to send its astronauts into space after the fleet of space shuttles was retired in 2011. SpaceX began flying human spaceflight missions in 2020 for NASA, while Boeing, the other company which was awarded flights to International Space Station, plans to send its first crew next spring.

But now, for the first time in decades, NASA has another destination for its astronauts — the moon — and a program, Artemis, that has survived subsequent presidential administrations, to get them there.

The Trump administration initiated the program that aims to land the first woman and person from color on the moon. The Biden White House has continued the program. This continuity contrasts with decades of presidential administrations pointing out NASA’s Human Space Exploration Directorate to help achieve various targets within the solar system. These include the Moon to Mars, an asteroid and the Moon again.

The question is now: Can NASA sustain its momentum and keep Congressional funding? Support for spaceflight programs can be fickle—even the Apollo missions quickly began to lose congressional support and public interest. Even though NASA may still celebrate Artemis I today as a triumphant achievement, this enthusiasm could easily fade when Artemis II is ready for flight in 2024.

It wasn’t obvious at the time that NASA was celebrating the first step in returning astronauts from the Moon. They also fulfilled the promise of Eugene Cernan (the last man to walk the Moon) who, as he left Earth for Earth, promised to return.

Robert Cabana, NASA Associate Administrator, and former astronaut, said that he wished Cernan could have been alive to see this mission. It would have meant so many things to him.”