NASA's Artemis 1 mission is a success.
The space agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket has successfully deployed NASA's Orion spacecraft on the moon. It recently sent its first pictures of Earth back to NASA before returning to Earth.
NASA's Orion spacecraft is the capsule that future Artemis astronauts will be in to explore the moon, Mars, and deep space and back to Earth, per NASA's webpage on the spacecraft.
NASA Orion Spacecraft Pictures
NASA mentioned in its latest blog post that its Orion spacecraft would be capable of providing many pictures of the Earth during its first mission in space. The space agency said that the spacecraft is equipped with 16 cameras, four of which are commercial off-the-shelf cameras and located on each of the spacecraft's solar array wings.
These cameras are said to help engineers assess the spacecraft's overall health of Orion's exterior and to capture selfies of it with the Earth or the moon in the background.
NASA showcased the capabilities of these cameras in its recent live stream wherein one of the cameras showed the Orion spacecraft and one of its solar array wings along with planet Earth.
This picture, which NASA featured in a separate blog post, was taken about nine hours into the spacecraft's flight on Nov. 16, 2022. Interestingly, the space agency modified these cameras to use in space, according to David Melendrez, imagery integration lead for the Orion Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Although NASA didn't mention the brand and model of these modified commercial off-the-shelf cameras, they performed enough to provide humanity with a selfie of the Orion spacecraft with Earth.
Melendrez added that the pictures from the Orion spacecraft would be vastly different than what humanity saw during the Apollo missions, particularly Apollo 8's Earthrise. Despite that, capturing milestone events such as Earthrise, Orion's farthest distance from Earth, and lunar flyby will be a high priority.
Orion's 16 cameras aren't the only ones on board. The Callisto payload, which includes three in-cabin cameras, is also being tested during the Artemis I mission.
According to NASA, these cameras will be used to see if video conferencing capabilities are possible within Orion so that people can better imagine themselves being inside the spacecraft.
The Orion spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in 26 days, per CNBC.
What Is The Orion Spacecraft?
The Orion spacecraft is NASA astronauts' exploration vehicle that will ferry them to space and provide them with everything they need during their missions and a means to return to Earth safely during emergencies.
According to NASA's quick overview of the spacecraft, it comes with state-of-the-art thermal protection built upon the past 50 years of space exploration to protect it from temperatures involved in a spacecraft's re-entry on Earth.
It also comes with a Launch Abort system, a crew module capable of transporting four crew members in a safe habitat even when on deep space missions, and a service module, which provides water and air to support its crew.
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