NASA's Orion capsule enters far-flung orbit around moon

[TexasTowelie]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Orion capsule entered an orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles around the moon Friday, as it neared the halfway mark of its test flight.

The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the $4 billion demo that's meant to pave the way for astronauts. It will remain in this broad but stable orbit for nearly a week, completing just half a lap before heading home.

As of Friday's engine firing, the capsule was 238,000 miles (380,000 kilometers) from Earth. It's expected to reach a maximum distance of almost 270,000 miles (432,000 kilometers) in a few days. That will set a new distance record for a capsule designed to carry people one day.

“It is a statistic, but it’s symbolic for what it represents,” Jim Geffre, an Orion manager, said in a NASA interview earlier in the week. “It’s about challenging ourselves to go farther, stay longer and push beyond the limits of what we’ve previously explored.”

Read more: https://www.khou.com/article/news/nation-world/nasas-orion-capsule-enters-far-flung-orbit/507-8614b2b0-e3e3-47f8-8ee9-14f10c6d5d7b

[MyOwnPeace]

1. I was thinking about how exciting this used to be....

the 'advancement' of science - driven by our own country. You didn't see anybody stand up and tell Jack Kennedy "YOU LIE!" when he said he wanted to have an American on the moon by 1970.

And, at the same time, there were no complaints from the Dems when Richard Nixon talked to the astronauts who went to the moon. There was a 'common' goal - and nobody was worried about who'd get 'credit' for it - it was an American effort.

Don't know how we lost it (well, yeah, I do....) - but sure do miss it........

[Gore1FL]

3. The fact that Saturn V rockets rotted because it was deemed too expensive to fly them...

...speaks almost as much to America, as launching the others. As a nation, we have both big dreams and big buyer's remorse.

[LudwigPastorius]

4. Yep.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-supercollider-that-never-was/

[Gore1FL]

5. I remeber that one all too well.

We'd have discover the Higgs Boson a decade before the much-less-powerful LHC even opened.

[localroger]

6. I've seen a lot of people lamenting that Artemis is old tech. Well...

...part of the problem I think for the early space program is that they didn't use old tech. With every generation they started with a blank piece of paper and yeah, that has advantages for efficiency and stuff but there is also something to be said for experience and life cycles. We're not using Soviet Soyuz capsules to go to the ISS becuase they're cutting edge Stargate performance, we're using them because they are proven technology, advanced incrementally since the 1960's, and they hold few surprises. That's worth a lot too.

It's not a weakness that Artemis looks like a space shuttle that had an encounter with The Fly. That's its strength. Those are proven technologies. We spent a lot of money (and sadly, 14 lives) proving them. We know how they work, the manufacturing centers are still in continuous operation with the same people who made the last STS that worked just fine thank you. This is how you do it if you want to have a continuing presence in the arena. Maybe SpaceX will get Starship working some day and that will be great, but for now Artemis is exactly what we need to continue in space with a presence that is not limited to LEO.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Starship is going to be what lands people on the Moon

https://www.engadget.com/nasa-picks-spacex-artemis-4-102537076.html

for Artemis 3 and Artemis 4, so we're still dependent on SpaceX getting it to work.

[Gore1FL]

2. Imagine being on the crew of Artemis, watching earthrise live for the first time since Apollo 17.

I am so glad we are taking up where we left off; though we are quite a bit down the "tech tree!"