The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the return of the Orion spacecraft of the Artemis 1 mission program to Earth, after the end of its exploration program to orbit the moon.
NASA indicated in a statement that the Orion spacecraft landed Sunday at night in the Pacific Ocean off the Mexican peninsula of Baja California, concluding its 25-day journey since its launch to the farthest distance from Earth, after about 13 days on Nov 16.
The Artemis 1 mission, which launched its first test flight on Nov 16 after several months of attempts to delay the launch, is part of the Artemis 2 mission. The latter is the first mission in which the vehicle performs a flight test on the surface of the moon and then returns to Earth, which is scheduled to launch in 2024, and will carry four astronauts on board, while the Artemis 3 mission is expected to launch in 2025.
It is noteworthy that NASA's Artemis mission aims to land American astronauts on the surface of the moon again for the first time in nearly 50 years. On the other hand, the Orion spacecraft is about to break the record for the farthest distance traveled by a spacecraft designed to transport astronauts from Earth after five decades.
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