After making a close pass at the Moon and venturing further into space than any previous habitable spacecraft, NASA's Orion capsule is due to splash down Sunday in the final test of a high-stakes mission called Artemis.
As it hurtles into Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 25,000 miles per hour, the gumdrop-shaped traveler will have to withstand a temperature of 2,800 degrees Centigrade —about half that of the surface of the sun.Achieving success in this mission of just over 25 days is key for NASA, which has invested tens of billions of dollars in the Artemis program due to take people back to the Moon and prepare for an onward trip, someday, to Mars.
Once it is there, NASA will let Orion float for two hours—a lot longer than if astronauts were inside—so as to collect data. When it returns to Earth, the spacecraft will have traveled 1.4 million miles since it took off November 16 with the help of a monstrous rocket called SLS. Some components of the capsule should be good for reuse in the Artemis 2 mission, which is already in advanced stages of planning.
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