Space unpacking: NASA began to take out the contents of the Orion spacecraft

Specialists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began

remove the contents of the Orion spacecraft, developed by Lockheed Martin for the Artemis lunar program. The capsule spent several weeks in space and returned to Earth a month ago.

What is known

November 16, 2022 Orion spacecraft withrocket Space Launch System (SLS) went on a trip around the moon. On December 11, he entered the Earth's atmosphere, slowed down with the help of a heat shield and fell into the ocean, descending on parachutes.

At the end of December, joint efforts of freightvehicles, people and the USS Portland spacecraft was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center. And so the center staff began unpacking the lunar capsule, which covered more than 2 million km during its journey.

Orion has already lost the Snoopy toy that playedthe role of a weightlessness sensor. Also, experts took out three mannequins. With their help, NASA will learn how to maximize the protection of astronauts during manned missions.

Until the end of the week, space center employeespull out nine modules with aviation electronics. The equipment is to be refurbished. The same avionics will be used in 2024 during a manned flight as part of the Artemis II mission. In addition, specialists need to get rid of hazardous materials that are on board the ship. All this will take "some time".

If experts find answers to allquestions posed to the Artemis I mission, then next year Orion will again set off on a journey. The ship will once again follow the same route, but with the crew on board. In 2025, if everything goes according to schedule, Starship will land humans on the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission.