NASA was “dizzy” from the amazing views of the moon from the Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft

NASA officials say the Artemis 1 mission teams are “giddy” after seeing how well their Orion spacecraft is doing on its way to lunar orbit.

Artemis 1 launched at 01:47 EST (06:47 GMT) on November 16, launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in a spectacular demonstration of the power of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The Orion spacecraft reached Earth orbit shortly thereafter, and then 87 minutes after launch performed a so-called burn through a lunar injection to direct it towards the moon. On Monday (November 21) Orion made another burn to send a spacecraft close enough to the surface of the Moon to use the Moon’s gravity to pull the spacecraft around the Moon into a distant lunar retrograde orbit.

After collecting data on this propulsion maneuver, NASA officials held a briefing Monday evening (Nov. 21) to discuss Orion’s flyby of the moon. Judd Freeling, flight director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said Orion mission team members were “giddy” about the spacecraft’s current performance after the flyby, which brought the spacecraft within 80 miles of the lunar surface.

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Freeling added that flight controllers are so far amazed by the stellar performance they’ve seen from Orion. “As for the controllers themselves, they’re also completely amazed by these wonderful videos that they can get from the Orion spacecraft,” Freeling said. “Also, you know, they’re just happy that all the hard work and dedication that they’ve put in over many, many, many years is really paying dividends.”

Howard Hu, Orion’s program manager, said the team has seen “really good performance across all of our subsystems and systems, and we’re certainly very pleased with the performance” of the spacecraft so far.

“Today was an extraordinary day,” Hu added. “We come in every day, and it doesn’t feel like work. I mean, it’s just a fantasy. I want to hear the information coming from the spacecraft, learn about the spacecraft, and be excited about what we’re doing. And it’s just, it’s just been phenomenal. I have a big smile every day.”

The launch of the Space Launch System rocket of the Artemis 1 mission on November 16 was also discussed at the briefing. Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager at NASA headquarters, said the SLS rocket performed flawlessly during the launch. “The results were stunning,” Sarafin said. “The rocket met and/or exceeded expectations.” Sarafin added that the refueling procedure that was performed for the successful third launch attempt also produced the results that mission managers expected, bypassing some of the problems that thwarted previous attempts.

Sarafin also discussed the damage done to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center during the launch. While much of the damage was expected and similar to other launches, the 8.8 million pounds of thrust generated by the SLS main stage and two solid rocket boosters literally blew the doors off. “The elevator system is down right now,” Sarafin said. “We had the most powerful rocket in the world and the pressure in our elevators practically blew the doors off.”

Sarafin said it was the RTV segment, the insulating couch around Orion’s base damaged by Tropical Storm Nicole, was found in the yard around the rocket. It is not clear if it was removed during the launch or if Nicole had previously been ripped off. A storm-damaged ropeway was a concern before launch, but mission managers decided it wouldn’t be a risk.

The Artemis 1 mission sent Orion to the moon on a 26-day journey that will bring the spacecraft within 80 miles of the moon’s surface at its closest pass and about 40,000 miles at its furthest. The mission is designed to be a flight test of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and associated ground control systems ahead of the Artemis 2 and 3 missions, scheduled for 2024 and 2025, respectively.

After flying far from the Moon, Orion will return to Earth, where it will fall into the Pacific Ocean on December 11.

“I will be well rested on Dec. 11 after landing and recovering, and so will these gentlemen and their teams,” Sarafin said.

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