The Artemis 2 mission has been completed. The Orion spacecraft returned to Earth.
The Orion spacecraft, the last tiny speck left from the giant rocket that took off 9 days ago, returned to Earth, bringing back alive the most precious part of its cargo:
three men and one woman, who flew around the Moon for the first time after a break of 54 years.
Follow the link below for a 5-minute video of the final stage of the mission (
https://xras.ru/info/images/20260411_Orion.mp4 ): capsule flight through the atmosphere, opening of all parachutes and landing. There are many technical details regarding the mechanics of this part of the flight.
Tomorrow is Cosmonautics Day, and no matter what anyone thinks, this is the best gift to humanity for this date. If only because the people who made that historic flight possible for all of us in 1961 dreamed of doing just that — not just circling the planet, but going beyond the Earth: to the Moon, Mars, to the satellites of giant planets, and finally to the stars.
There are two very difficult and eventful years ahead. The lunar landing modules, Starship HLS and Blue Moon, should be ready within a year. [...] [Summary of the years ahead summarized
in this post]
NASA's dominance will remain in the early years, but as always happens, as technology evolves and costs decrease, the capabilities of different countries will begin to align. On the horizon of 30-50 years, the Moon will begin to be systematically mastered by mankind. And then
even the most outspoken skeptics, who are now using a magnifying glass to study the shadows in the images from the ship in search of traces of forgery, will be able to buy a ticket to the Moon themselves, descend to its surface, look around — and still say: "I don't believe" :)
In general, today the first step was taken before our eyes. Humanity, which broke through into the future 50-60 years ago through the strain and strain of all its strength, today, simply by living these years, has reached a level where technology allows it to become a permanent part of our lives.
Thank you to everyone who has worked for this all these years, and to everyone who has made it possible now.
Laboratory of Solar Astronomy (xras.ru ) (
Лаборатория солнечной астрономии (XRAS) )
