Orion completes small mid-course-correction engine burn as it prepares to swing around behind the Moon
The Moon as seen by Orion’s astronauts on April 4th, cropped
and reduced to post here. Click for original image.
NASA’s manned Orion capsule last night completed small mid-course-correction engine burn to refine the spacecraft’s trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth.
Mission control teams in Houston and the Artemis II crew completed an outbound correction burn to refine the Orion spacecraft’s trajectory to the Moon. The burn began at 11:03 p.m. EDT and lasted 17.5 seconds. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, continue on a precise path to flyby the Moon on Monday, April 6.
The lunar fly-by is scheduled for this evening. As the capsule swings around behind the Moon, there will be a communications black-out from 6:44 pm (Eastern) to 7:25 pm (Eastern). NASA is making a concerted PR effort to compare this to the Apollo 8 mission around the Moon, but the differences are gigantic. Apollo 8 went into orbit around the Moon. There was considerable risk it could get stuck there if its engine failed to fire properly when behind the Moon on its last orbit. Thus, that Apollo 8 blackout was quite tension-filled.
Orion’s fly-around is instead completely benign. They aren’t going into orbit, and they are already on their path back to Earth. There will be no extra element of risk as they fly behind the Moon. All they will be doing is coast along, as they have been doing since leaving Earth orbit. They will simply be out of touch for about 40 minutes.
I sadly remain personally bored by this mission. It is is testing relatively little new engineering for future use, and is mostly designed as a PR stunt to convince everyone that “NASA is back!” Hardly. The capabilities of SLS and Orion are extremely limited, and both are ungodly expensive. Neither will make possible any colonization of the solar system. All they do is act as a jobs program for government employees.
And there still remains this mission’s biggest moment of danger, re-entry and splashdown, using Orion’s questionable heat shield that did not behave properly on its only previous unmanned mission in 2022.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The Moon as seen by Orion’s astronauts on April 4th, cropped
and reduced to post here. Click for original image.
NASA’s manned Orion capsule last night completed small mid-course-correction engine burn to refine the spacecraft’s trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth.
Mission control teams in Houston and the Artemis II crew completed an outbound correction burn to refine the Orion spacecraft’s trajectory to the Moon. The burn began at 11:03 p.m. EDT and lasted 17.5 seconds. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, continue on a precise path to flyby the Moon on Monday, April 6.
The lunar fly-by is scheduled for this evening. As the capsule swings around behind the Moon, there will be a communications black-out from 6:44 pm (Eastern) to 7:25 pm (Eastern). NASA is making a concerted PR effort to compare this to the Apollo 8 mission around the Moon, but the differences are gigantic. Apollo 8 went into orbit around the Moon. There was considerable risk it could get stuck there if its engine failed to fire properly when behind the Moon on its last orbit. Thus, that Apollo 8 blackout was quite tension-filled.
Orion’s fly-around is instead completely benign. They aren’t going into orbit, and they are already on their path back to Earth. There will be no extra element of risk as they fly behind the Moon. All they will be doing is coast along, as they have been doing since leaving Earth orbit. They will simply be out of touch for about 40 minutes.
I sadly remain personally bored by this mission. It is is testing relatively little new engineering for future use, and is mostly designed as a PR stunt to convince everyone that “NASA is back!” Hardly. The capabilities of SLS and Orion are extremely limited, and both are ungodly expensive. Neither will make possible any colonization of the solar system. All they do is act as a jobs program for government employees.
And there still remains this mission’s biggest moment of danger, re-entry and splashdown, using Orion’s questionable heat shield that did not behave properly on its only previous unmanned mission in 2022.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
From an amateur astronomer / lunar observer’s perspective, it is nice to be able to peek over and get a good look at part of the moon’s far side. Prior to the Soviet Luna 3 mission in 1959, we could see — with libration — only about 59% of its surface, and it was fun to view ordinarily inaccessible limb areas as they leaned over toward us. Sure, all of the moon has now been imaged in exquisite detail, but it’s still exciting for some of us to see the “dark side” in real time.
PS — When watching the NASA Artemis feed a little while ago on CSPAN, the image of the moon was seriously overexposed, and it was hard to make out much detail. It would be nice if someone at Mission Control cold fix this. (Oh, wait. The camera is probably so automated that you can’t even set the aperture or otherwise adjust the image. Oh brave new world.)
“I sadly remain personally bored by this mission. . . “
That’s Bob’s opinion. I wonder what Astronaut Katy Perry thinks about the mission.
Like most remakes with bigger budgets and flashier special effects, it lacks the drama and suspence of the original. Of course, there are few of us left who remember the original.
Many people recognize this as a stunt without any value. I am getting so tired of headlines using the phrase Darkside of the moon (a Pink Floyd album cover) And the claim of seeing and taking pictures of part of the moon that’s never been seen before? Ignorance is widespread.
Babylon Bee is having fun, at first an article that Elon is sending a plumber to fix the toilet… (how much did it cost for a toilet that doesn’t work? Thank goodness for back up diapers)
And now this, making fun of Canada‘s fifth? largest cause of death… Assisted suicide! now for people who “don’t” want to die.
https://babylonbee.com/news/canadian-astronaut-humanely-euthanized-after-suffering-light-bruise-during-takeoff
I can’t help but think SpaceX delayed it’s next test flight for political reasons. “Not to rain on NASA’s parade”. Embarrassing the hand that can choke you should be avoided.
You’re a hard man, Mr. Z!
Here’s an interesting video from photographer Jared Polin regarding the cameras used during this mission, and a comparison of the Blue Marble image to the Hello World image.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51WNE4Nb0J0
Patrick Underwood: If telling the truth, and looking at reality with a cold eye, makes me a “hard man,” than so be it. I won’t live in a fantasy world, especially when it comes to doing things as difficult and as challenging and as dangerous as exploring and colonizing the solar system. Fantasies will only kill you in that environment.