In a few days, the 25 ton moonship will skip across a pond and plummet into the ocean.
There will be one more space flyby before the capsule leaves the moon. NASA has sent a crew to San Diego to join the Navy at sea to prepare for its return.
NASA plans to enter the atmosphere with a skip entry. This will be the first time that the U.S. space agency has tried this. The maneuver requires the moonship to travel at a high rate of speed.
"Orion will come home faster and hotter than any other craft before it," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. It's going to hit the Earth's atmosphere at 32 times the speed of sound, and then it's going to descend through the atmosphere.
Orion's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere will experience temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Credit: NASA
The advantage is that the G-force loads are broken up into two smaller events rather than one large event. NASA believes that mastering the skip entry will keep Artemis astronauts safer in the future. Humans are put under a lot of stress when their hearts are put under a lot of force.
When the capsule comes back in a few weeks, NASA will have to prove that it can survive a long time in space. The re-entry into Earth's atmosphere will be a nail-biting grand finale to Artemis' maiden 25 day space voyage, with successhinging on the new Lockheed Martin-built heat shield. According to NASA, the hardware it's protecting will have to be able to survive up to 5000 degrees.
Imagine a fire half the size of the sun.
"That heat shield on the back end is going to show us how we've taken that material from the Apollo days and brought that into the 21st century," Kelly DeFazio said in August. NASA wants to send astronauts to the moon in the early 20th century. It is possible that the first landing on the lunar surface will be on Artemis III.
The final objective for the Artemis I mission will be a test of the heat shield during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Credit: NASA
It will travel 24,500 mph when it plunges into the ocean. The Space Shuttle's descent was about 17,500 mph. The atmosphere will be used to slow the capsule down to about 300 mph. It will re-enter for a final descent with parachutes.
It should coasting at 20 mph when it hits water. Live coverage of the event will begin at 11 a.m. The splashdown will take place at about 12:40 p.m.
"Orion will come home faster and hotter than any spacecraft has before."
Since NASA's Apollo days, the idea of a skip entry has been on paper but never tried. The navigation systems and computer power of spaceships were not up to date.
"Apollo was just a direct entry, so that pretty much your landing site was set earlier on, when you departed the moon, with only a minor ability to adjust," said Chris Edelen, deputy manager for Orion integration.
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NASA astronaut Alan Bean emerges from the Apollo 12 spacecraft after it splashes down in the ocean in August 1969. Credit: NASA
The Apollo missions used to travel up to 1,725 miles before landing in the ocean. According to the U.S. space agency, there was a swarm of ships and rafts at the sea waiting for the recovery operation to start.
During a skip entry, the capsule should be able to fly over 5,500 miles beyond the point at which it pokes into the upper air. When NASA bounces back out of the atmosphere, there is little drag on the craft.
The ability to steer up and out of a denser part of the atmosphere is one of the major improvements with Artemis.
The U.S. Navy and NASA will work together to recover Artemis I's Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, 2022. Credit: NASA / Tony Gray
Orion is expected to return to Earth about 50 miles off the coast of San Diego, California. Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett
The goal is to get to weary returning astronauts quicker and reduce the number of boats, helicopters, and divers needed.
Most Apollo moon missions ended with re-entries into Earth's atmosphere that put astronauts through 6 times the normal force of gravity. Apollo 16 had the highest G level, tipping over 7Gs.
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If everything goes according to plan, the three test dummies will face two rounds of 4G-level forces. The ride that pins people against the wall with a force of 3 times the normal force of gravity is more intense than that.
The two mannequins don't wear helmets. They wouldn't be able to hang onto their hats if they were limbless.
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