In Pictures

Photos: NASA’s Orion capsule visits moon, returns earthward

The splashdown ends a 25-day mission less than a week after the capsule passed about 127km above the Moon.

NASA's Orion Capsule is drawn to the well deck of the USS Portland — NASA's Orion capsule is drawn to the well deck of the USS Portland following the successful Artemis I, uncrewed 25-day mission [Mario Tama/Pool/AFP]

NASA’s Orion capsule barrelled through Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday after making an uncrewed voyage around the moon, winding up the inaugural mission of the United States agency’s new Artemis lunar programme 50 years to the day after Apollo’s final moon landing.

The gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, carrying a simulated crew of three mannequins wired with sensors, plunked down in the ocean at 9:40am Pacific Standard Time (17:40 GMT) off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, demonstrating a high-stakes homecoming before NASA flies its first crew of Artemis astronauts around the moon in the next few years.

A US military helicopter and a group of fast boats approached the capsule after splashdown for about five hours of inspections before Orion was hoisted on board a US Naval vessel for a trip to San Diego, California.

The splashdown capped a 25-day mission less than a week after the capsule passed about 127km (79 miles) above the moon in a lunar fly-by, and came about two weeks after it reached its farthest point in space, nearly 434,500km (270,000 miles) from Earth.

Roughly 30 minutes before splashing down, the capsule committed to a fiery, 20-minute plunge into Earth’s atmosphere when it shed its service module in space, exposing a heat shield that reached peak temperatures of nearly 2,760 degrees Celsius (5,000 degrees Fahrenheit) during its blazing-fast descent.

Atmospheric friction slowed the capsule from nearly 40,000 to 500 kilometres per hour (24,500 to 325 miles per hour), followed by two sets of parachutes that helped brake its speed to an expected 32km/h (20mph) at splashdown. The capsule showed a “perfect” descent rate, NASA commentator Rob Navias said.

“This has been an extraordinarily successful mission,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters.

The capsule blasted off on November 16 from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop NASA’s towering next-generation Space Launch System, now the world’s most powerful rocket and the biggest NASA has built since the Saturn V of the Apollo era.

Compared with Apollo, born of the Cold War-era US-Soviet space race, Artemis is more science-driven and broad-based, enlisting other countries and commercial partners such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the space agencies of Europe, Canada and Japan.

“This is a great day not only for America, but it’s a great day for all of our international partners – that’s the difference from 50 years ago,” Nelson said.

SLS Rocket makes an arc in the night sky as it launches from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida — NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System [SLS] rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifted off from launch complex 39B as part of the unmanned Artemis 1 mission to the moon on November 16, 2022. [File: Joe Rimkus Jr/Reuters]

The Earth and its moon are seen from NASA's Orion spacecraft on Monday, November 28. [NASA via AP]

NASA's Orion spacecraft beamed back close-up photos of the moon and Earth on December 5, after it came within 127km [79 miles] of the moon. [NASA via AP]

A member of the US Air Force deploys a weather ballon — A member of the US Air Force deploys a weather balloon aboard the USS Portland before NASA's Orion capsule descended into the Pacific Ocean off Baja California. [Mario Tama/AFP]

Navy airmen of the U.S.S. Portland — Navy airmen of the USS Portland participate in a foreign object debris walk down before taking off in MH-60 helicopters as part of the recovery operation involving the US Navy and NASA. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/EPA-EFE]

NASA astronaut Shannon Walker speaks with crew members during recovery operations after NASA's Orion capsule splashed down - Orion carried three mannequins full of sensors in lieu of humans. [Mario Tama/Pool/Reuters]

Navy sailors launch a small boat as part of the recovery operation. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/Reuters]

team participate in the official handover from the Orion program to the recovery team as recovery operations for the Orion capsule — NASA Recovery team participate in the official handover from the Orion programme to the recovery team off the coast of Baja California. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/Reuters]

NASA’s Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5-day mission orbiting the moon and back. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/Reuters]

U.S. Navy divers attach winch cables to NASA's Orion capsule — US Navy divers attach winch cables to NASA's Orion capsule after being successfully secured by a NASA and US Navy team. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/Reuters]

NASA’s Orion capsule makes its way towards the U.S.S. Portland — NASA’s Orion capsule makes its way towards the USS Portland. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/Reuters]

Orion team members inspect NASA’s Orion capsule — Orion team members inspect the capsule onboard the USS Portland after being successfully retrieved. [Caroline Brehman/Pool/Reuters]