The NASA confirmed this Thursday that the Orion spacecraft from the Artemis II mission is communicating with the Deep Space Network while carrying four astronauts towards the Moon, marking the first time in over 50 years that a signal has been received from a crewed spacecraft on a lunar trajectory.
The official NASA Artemis account announced in the early hours of the morning: "Signal acquired! Engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have confirmed that the Orion spacecraft is communicating with the Deep Space Network. For the first time in over 50 years, we are receiving a signal from a spacecraft carrying humans to the Moon."
The Artemis II mission lifted off on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard the Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful to carry humans into space with nearly four million kilograms of thrust.
The Orion spacecraft, named "Integrity", aims to validate the Orion systems with a human crew before upcoming moon landings. Among the crew members is the first Canadian to travel to the Moon, marking a historic milestone for international space exploration.
Communication with the spacecraft is conducted via the Deep Space Network, whose most powerful antennas measure 70 meters in diameter and enable contact with spacecraft at immense distances from the planet.
The last precedent for this type of mission dates back to December 1972, when Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last humans to travel to the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission. Now, more than five decades later, humanity is retracing that path with the Artemis program, which has the first moon landing scheduled for 2028.
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