Orion ready for lunar flyby maneuver - SpaceNews

WASHINGTON — NASA has approved plans to proceed with the next critical milestone in the Artemis 1 mission, a maneuver by the uncrewed Orion spacecraft as it flies by the moon Nov.

The maneuver will send Orion out towards a distant retrograde orbit around the moon.

It’s one that Orion has to perform,” said Jim Geffre, Orion vehicle integration manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, during a Nov.

“Overall, the mission, in just three short days, is proceeding and exceeding expectations,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager, at the Nov.

Sarafin said the issue with the star trackers was “dazzling” of the imagers by thruster plumes.

“The star tracker itself is performing perfectly,” Geffre said, noting the issue came from a combination of factors that could not be fully simulated on the ground.

Sarafin said the agency was also still assessing the performance of the Space Launch System rocket that launched Orion.

“All indications were that the system performed spot-on,” he said, noting that the core stage and boosters placed Orion and its ICPS upper stage very close to its planned altitude, and that the ICPS burn that sent Orion to the moon “was exactly where we had intended.”.