NASA Artemis II tracker: Where is the Orion now, and when will it reach the moon?
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- NASA’s Artemis II mission successfully performed a nearly six-minute main engine burn, sending four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit toward the moon, marking the first crewed lunar mission since 1972.
- As of Saturday afternoon, the spacecraft was approximately 168,564 miles from Earth and 111,037 miles from the moon, traveling at 2,391 mph, with a lunar flyby scheduled for Monday, April 6.
- The crew experienced and resolved a malfunction with Orion’s $23 million toilet system early in the mission, with no impact on overall mission safety or objectives.
- During the six-hour lunar flyby, astronauts will approach within 4,000 miles of the moon's surface, conduct extensive photography and observation, experience a temporary loss of contact while passing behind the moon, and witness a solar eclipse.
- Following the lunar flyby, the mission includes return trajectory corrections, radiation protection assessments, manual piloting tests, and preparations for Earth reentry, with splashdown planned for April 10 in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.
