Washington, April 11 (IANS). NASA’s Artemis II mission has been successfully completed. This is a major milestone towards humanity’s return to deep space exploration. The mission included four astronauts – Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. After completing the historic journey of 10 days, all of them landed safely in the sea through the Orion spacecraft.
“Welcome Reed, Victor, Christina and Jeremy! The Artemis II astronauts landed safely in the ocean at 8:07 p.m. (ET), ending their historic 10-day lunar journey,” NASA wrote on social media platform X.
Earlier in another post, the agency highlighted the process of the spacecraft’s descent, saying, “Orion’s main parachute has opened. The spacecraft has a system of 11 parachutes, which will slow it down from a speed of approximately 300 mph to 20 mph, so that it can safely land on Earth.”
Before returning to Earth, NASA had informed that after completing a long journey of about 6 lakh 90 thousand miles, this team is getting closer to the Earth.
This mission has become a topic of discussion around the world, because after more than five decades man has stepped beyond low Earth orbit into deep space. According to NASA, this journey marked the furthest distance astronauts have ever traveled, paving the way for future lunar missions.
During this mission, the crew set a new distance record by traveling 248,655 miles from Earth and ultimately reached a distance of approximately 252,756 miles at its farthest point. In this way he broke the old record of Apollo 13 mission.
Officials said the mission was specifically designed to rigorously test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in a deep space environment, with astronauts aboard. Passing by the Moon was an important part of this test, so that preparations for future missions could be tested.
NASA official Dr. Laurie Glaze said that this achievement shows that the agency is constantly working to overcome new boundaries. At the same time, astronaut Hansen said that this mission honors the legacy of old space scientists and travelers and begins a new era of discovery.
The Artemis II mission is being considered an important step towards NASA’s larger goal of ensuring long-term human presence on the Moon. This mission lays the foundation for even bigger space missions to come.
–IANS
AS/