Kapsul Angkasa Orion Mendarat Selepas Kelilingi Bulan

At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5 day mission to the Moon. Orion will be recovered by NASA’s Landing and Recovery team, U.S. Navy and Department of Defense partners aboard the USS Portland. Credit: NASA/James M. Blair

WASHINGTON: Kapsul angkasa lepas, Orion Pentadbiran Aeronautik dan Angkasa Kebangsaan (NASA) mendarat di Pasifik pada 11 Disember 2022/Ahad, melengkapkan misi Artemis 1, iaitu perjalanan lebih 25 hari mengelilingi bulan, bertujuan membawa manusia dalam masa beberapa tahun lagi.

Agensi Berita Antarabangsa AFP pada 11 Disember 2022 melaporkan kapsul tanpa kru itu terapung di laut dengan bantuan tiga payung terjun besar berwarna merah dan oren, seperti dilihat di TV NASA, sejurus memasuki atmosfera bumi pada kelajuan 25 batu sejam atau 40,000 kilometer sejam (km/j).

Pengarah Pendaratan dan Pemulihan NASA, Melissa Jones, berkata pihaknya memiliki gambar pendaratan yang sempurna.

Orion merekodkan perjalanan lebih sejuta batu dan mampu pergi lebih jauh dari bumi berbanding mana-mana kapal angkasa boleh dihuni sebelum ini, ketika mengelilingi satelit mengorbit bumi.

Pentadbir NASA, Bill Nelson, berkata ribuan individu melaksanakan misi yang memberi inspirasi kepada dunia untuk bekerjasama bagi mencapai tebing kosmik belum pernah dijejaki, sejak beberapa tahun lalu.

"Hari ini (semalam) adalah kemenangan besar NASA, Amerika Syarikat (AS), rakan kongsi antarabangsa dan manusia," katanya.

Orion tidak mengalami kerosakan ketika helikopter terbang di atasnya, sejurus pendaratan, selain kapsul itu akan dikeluarkan kapal Tentera Laut AS di pesisir pantai Baja California, Mexico selepas beberapa ujian awal dijalankan.

Kapsul berbentuk gula-gula getah itu mampu bertahan daripada suhu 2,800 darjah Celcius, iaitu kira-kira separuh daripada permukaan matahari, ketika memasuki atmosfera bumi dengan matlamat utama misi itu bertujuan menguji perisai habanya.

Kejayaan misi itu bakal memacu pelaburan bernilai puluhan bilion dolar bagi program Artemis, bertujuan membawa manusia ke bulan dan persediaan perjalanan ke marikh, suatu hari nanti.

Ujian pertama kapsul itu dijalankan pada 2014, tetapi ketika itu Orion kekal di orbit bumi dan kembali ke atmosfera pada kelajuan lebih perlahan, kira-kira 20,000 batu sejam.

At 12:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2022, NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25.5 day mission to the Moon. Orion will be recovered by NASA’s Landing and Recovery team, U.S. Navy and Department of Defense partners aboard the USS Portland ship. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully completed a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 9:40 PST, 12:40 EST as the final major milestone of the Artemis I mission. Engineers will perform several additional tests while Orion is in the water and before powering down the spacecraft and handing it over to the recovery team aboard the USS Portland.

At the direction of the NASA recovery director, Navy divers and other team members in several inflatable boats will approach the spacecraft. When Orion is ready to be pulled into the ship’s well deck at the waterline, the divers will attach a cable, called the winch line, to pull the spacecraft into the ship and up to four additional tending lines to attach points on the crew module.

The winch will pull Orion into a specially designed cradle inside the ship’s well deck and the other lines will control the motion of the spacecraft. Once Orion is positioned above the cradle assembly, technicians will drain the well deck and secure it on the cradle.

Once aboard the vessel, teams will take the spacecraft to U.S. Naval Base San Diego and soon return it to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for inspection. Technicians in Florida will thoroughly inspect Orion, retrieving data recorded on board, removing onboard payloads, and more.

Artemis I was the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems – the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and the supporting ground systems – and the first in a series of increasingly complex missions at the Moon. Through Artemis missions, NASA will establish a long-term lunar presence for scientific discovery and prepare for human missions to Mars.