NASA's Orion capsule is on its way home from the moon to wrap up a three-week test flight. The capsule and its test dummies came within 80 miles of the far side of the moon Monday. Once emerging from behind the moon, Orion flew over a couple Apollo landing sites. The capsule was too high to make out the Apollo lander descent stages or anything else left behind by astronauts more than a half-century ago. Orion will aim for a Pacific splashdown Sunday, setting the stage for astronauts on the next moonshot.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) � NASA’s Orion capsule made a blisteringly fast return from the moon Sunday, parachuting into the Pacific off Mexico to conclude a test flight that should clear the way for astronauts on the next lunar flyby.
The incoming capsule hit the atmosphere at Mach 32, or 32 times the speed of sound, and endured reentry temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) before splashing down west of Baja California near Guadalupe Island. A Navy ship quickly moved in to recover the spacecraft and its silent occupants � three test dummies rigged with vibration sensors and radiation monitors.
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