Orion On His WAY Home To Earth, Here's How To Lock Up The Spacecraft Location!

The Orion plane is on its way back to Earth. (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA - The Orion spacecraft, which has explored lunar orbit, is currently on its way back to Earth. Orion was previously in the Moon's Orbit Retrograde CENTER (DRO) and stayed for several weeks.

After leaving the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, United States (US), aboard NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on November 16, Orion unmanned passed through the lunar surface at an altitude of only 81 miles.

Then, Orion enters the DRO and will now begin his return journey to Earth. Exactly today, Orion will be out of the scope of lunar influence, it will cross space for five days before dropping itself in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, USA.

If you're curious about where Orion is currently located, NASA created the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website (AROW) website for anyone interested in tracking the spacecraft throughout its entire journey.

AROW data includes mission travel time, spacecraft speed, distance from the Moon, and distance from Earth.

Launching Digital Trends, Tuesday, December 6, not only that, the page also includes images of Orion capsules that can drag users to see the vehicle from various angles, and also to see its position in relation to the Moon and Earth. Click the "mission show" button at the bottom left of the screen as well, so users can see the right path that Orion took while in space so far.

For information, the Artemis I mission was designed to test the rocket and Orion before the manned Artemis II mission, which took place at the earliest in 2024. After that, Artemis III will place astronauts on the Moon in the first human landing since the last Apollo in 1972.

However, NASA's Artemis program has a greater purpose, as it plans to build a first lunar base as a long-term astronaut's residence on the lunar surface, and also uses the Moon as a stepping stone for its first manned mission to Mars, even more than that.