The 4-person crew in the Orion capsule on NASA's Artemis II space shuttle carried out a key thruster firing on Thursday, sending the ship past the main orbit of the Earth towards the moon, in the hope of beating Apollo 13's distance in 1970, as they took pictures using phones and cameras.
A thruster firing is an orbital exit ramp slinging them out of Earth's orbit and onto a figure-eight-shaped trajectory toward the moon.
It's the final major thruster firing of the 10-day historic mission and now the crew will rely on orbital mechanics for the remainder of the journey.
"We are getting just a beautiful view of the dark side of the Earth lit by the moon right now. Phenomenal" said Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, talking to mission control on Earth 10 minutes after the manoeuvre.
In the first full day after launch, the astronauts tested cameras and took pictures on their iPhones, practiced steering and dealt with minor toilet and email connectivity issues.
Commander Reid Wiseman, while testing cameras as the crew flew roughly 40,000 miles away from Earth earlier on Thursday, said he saw the planet as a shrinking sunlit globe, and said taking photos from that distance made it difficult to adjust exposure settings.
"It's like walking out back at your house, trying to take a picture of the moon. That's what it feels like right now trying to take a picture of Earth," he told mission control in Houston as he snapped photos of his home planet with an iPhone.
Wiseman earlier faced a minor tech issue when his initial attempts to use Microsoft Outlook to check emails failed, but that was fixed quickly with the help from mission control. Another astronaut, Christina Koch, noticed a small red light on the toilet and it was fixed by mission engineers.
The crew have been equipped with GoPro action cameras, iPhones and Nikon cameras to document their journey and views. NASA is expected to release captured photos from the mission later on in the mission.
The decision to equip the crew with iPhones was made under NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, a billionaire astronaut who flew on two private SpaceX Dragon missions and used the devices during his own flights, NASA officials have said.
On day six, the astronauts are expected to reach roughly 252,000 miles from Earth, the most distant point ever flown by humans, when the planet will appear no larger than a basketball beyond the moon’s shadowed far side.
An unknown projectile struck a tanker 68 nautical miles northeast of Saudi Arabia on Friday according to a report released by the United Kingdom Ma...
Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy and water systems, combined with damaged homes and rising living costs, could force more people to flee t...
The AnewZ documentary “Counterpoint: Two Centuries of German-Azerbaijani Shared History” investigates the story of German settlers who ...
The U.S. has banned government employees working in Saudi Arabia from using airports in the country without special authorisation. It comes after a deadly Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed at least 13 people last week.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called it “a disgrace” that Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries. Attacks are continuing from Russia and Ukraine as media reports say Ukraine has almost run out of Patriot interceptor missiles.
Ukraine is set to restart attacks on Russian oil refineries following a two-day pause, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, amid growing tensions with Washington over energy strikes and U.S. military support.
An unknown projectile struck a tanker 68 nautical miles northeast of Saudi Arabia on Friday according to a report released by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) on Saturday.
France is preparing for a fresh wave of nationwide demonstrations this weekend as rising living costs, education concerns and growing political tensions converge into one of the most significant protest movements seen in the country in recent years.
Satellite restrictions affecting Ukraine's military have put SpaceX's Starshield network under scrutiny, raising questions about who controls the technology and who can restrict its use during wartime.
More than three centuries after the dodo disappeared from Mauritius, efforts to bring the iconic bird back from extinction are taking a new step forward.
Hackers forced the temperature of fridges and freezers in hundreds of French supermarkets up to 50 degrees Celsius overnight, causing fires and food losses in what the Paris Prosecutor’s Office described as a “large-scale” attack.
A software engineer employed by OpenAI has been arrested and charged by U.S. authorities after investigators alleged he secretly placed a concealed recording device inside an executive conference room at the artificial intelligence company.
NASA's Perseverance rover has set a new driving record on Mars, travelling 45.2 kilometres since landing in 2021 and surpassing every other robotic vehicle to explore a world beyond Earth, the U.S. space agency said on Tuesday.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment