Posted on 11/19/2022 12:08:15 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: When the Artemis 1 mission's Orion spacecraft makes its November 21 powered flyby of the Moon, denizens of planet Earth will see the Moon in a waning crescent phase. The spacecraft will approach to within about 130 kilometers of the lunar surface on its way to a distant retrograde orbit some 70,000 kilometers beyond the Moon. But the Moon was at last quarter for the November 16 launch and near the horizon in the dark early hours after midnight. It's captured here in skies over Kennedy Space Center along with the SLS rocket engines and solid rocket boosters lofting the uncrewed Orion to space. Ragged fringes appearing along the bright edge of the sunlit lunar nearside are caused as pressure waves generated by the rocket's passage change the index of refraction along the camera's line of sight.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Good grief the moon is only a foot away from us now!
And the rocket is melting it. What will become of us?
After a bottle of Jack Daniel's, I won't care too much . . . Heh.
The acceleration at the start of lift off was amazing.
The acceleration at the start of lift off was amazing.
Yes it was! I couldn’t believe how quickly the rocket jumped off that launch pad!
The Saturn V took a couple seconds.
The spacecraft is supposed to have cameras all ove the outside of it. I wonder if we’ll get to see some pictures from it.
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