NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully landed in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California at 09:40 local time (20:40 Kiev time) on Sunday. Thus, Artemis I completed its mission, traveling more than 2.25 million kilometers, orbiting the Moon, and happily returning to Earth.

The transition to the Pacific Ocean is the final phase of the Artemis I mission, which began on November 16 when a NASA Space Launch System (SLS) rocket successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Track 39B. NASA tested Orion in the harsh conditions of deep space for 25.5 days to send astronauts on the same route in the future, and even farther away to return humans to the moon.

“The landing of the Orion spacecraft, 50 years after Apollo 17’s moon landing, is the crowning achievement of the Artemis I mission, from launching the world’s most powerful rocket to an extraordinary journey around the moon and back to Earth. This flight test is an important step forward in lunar exploration., said NASA Director Bill Nelson. — This wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible team at NASA. Over the years, thousands of people have dedicated themselves to this inspiring mission to work together to reach the virgin shores of space. Today is a great victory for NASA, the United States, our international partners, and all of humanity.“.

During the Orion mission, it flew around the Moon twice, coming within about 128 km of the satellite. The ship also left Earth, about 430,000 km from our home planet, to test the systems as thoroughly as possible before her flight with the crew. Orion has stayed in space longer than any spacecraft designed to transport humans without docking with the space station. Orion broke the record for distance traveled by a human-carrying spacecraft in deep lunar orbit, previously set by the Apollo 13 mission.

Before entering Earth’s atmosphere, the crew module was separated from the service module, a propulsion system provided by the European Space Agency. When Orion entered the atmosphere, the temperature was half that of the Sun’s surface – about 2,760 °C. In about 20 minutes, Orion slowed from about 40,000 km/h to about 32 km/h for parachuting.