Artemis mission completed

NASA completed a crucial step Sunday toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface with the successful completion of the Artemis test mission. It sent the Orion space capsule designed for human spaceflight to orbit the moon and return safely to Earth. The Orion, which had no astronauts on board, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the Baja California peninsula of Mexico under a trio of billowing parachutes at 12:40 p.m. Eastern time. the 26-day, 1.4 million-mile mission went “exceedingly well,” NASA officials said, from the launch on Nov. 16 to flybys that brought Orion within about 80 miles of the lunar surface and directly over the Apollo 11 landing site at Tranquility Base. (Source: Washington Post, 12/11/22) Gulf Coast note: Orion and the Space Launch System were both built at Michould Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The SLS RS-25 engines were tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Previous