Orion will carry humans to the lunar surface. On this first Artemis mission, she will orbit it without astronauts.
The Orion capsule has taken its first selfie with Earth on its journey to the Moon under the Artemis 1 program .
The selfie was taken 9 hours after takeoff 92 thousand kilometers from Earth, still at a fifth of the distance to the satellite. The capsule was traveling at 8,800 kph.
New views of planet Earth from @NASA_Orion as #Artemis I journeys to the Moon. Orion is 9.5 hours into a 25.5-day test flight. pic.twitter.com/CBaA4ZOK4X
— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022
a historic mission
“This view of Earth captured from a human spacecraft hasn’t been seen since 1972 on the last Apollo mission 50 years ago,” said NASA spokeswoman Sandra Jones. “It is the imagination of a new generation: the Artemis generation ”.
24 cameras travel in the SLS rocket and 16 in the Orion capsule to document the entire trip and details of each action of the program.
“Each of Orion ‘s four solar array wings have a space-modified out-of-the-box camera, providing a view of the exterior of the spacecraft,” says David Melendrez, the project’s imaging integration lead.
Images and video collected by Orion cameras will come in a variety of formats, from standard definition to high definition to 4K.
Orion will also carry cameras that are part of a technology demo, called Callisto . The payload includes three in-cabin cameras that will be used to test video conferencing capabilities and may enhance the public’s ability to imagine themselves inside Orion .
More images
In addition to the selfie , NASA also posted a view of one of Orion ‘s passengers : Commander Moonikin Campos, a mannequin who is testing the orange suit that astronauts will wear during Artemis 2.
While #Artemis I is uncrewed, a manikin named “Commander Moonikin Campos” is among the test devices flying aboard @NASA_Orion. The name honors NASA engineer Arturo Campos, who helped bring the Apollo 13 crew safely home to Earth. https://t.co/B5x3fSQQ74 pic.twitter.com/2gs2eC7pWi
— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022
Also captured in the image is Amazon technology with Alexa at the top right. The company wants to provide assistance to astronauts on their way to the Moon.