Artemis II pilot talks about what it was really like to fly and land in Orion

NASA astronaut Victor Glover reveals the intense mental and physical preparation for the fiery return from lunar orbit. | Contesto: cronaca

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• Artemis II pilot talks about what it was really like to fly and land in Orion

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NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the pilot for the upcoming Artemis II mission, has spent the last three years obsessively focused on a single, critical event: the fiery reentry and landing of the Orion spacecraft. "I've been thinking about reentry for three straight years," Glover stated, underscoring the unparalleled complexity and risk of returning a human-rated capsule from lunar velocities. The mission, slated to carry Glover and three crewmates on a ten-day flight around the Moon and back, will culminate in a high-speed plunge through Earth's atmosphere, testing Orion's heat shield under the most extreme conditions since the Apollo era. The Artemis II flight, the first crewed voyage of NASA's deep-space Orion capsule, represents a monumental step in returning humans to the lunar surface. While the mission will not land on the Moon, its trajectory will carry the crew farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled. The successful reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is the non-negotiable finale upon which the entire program's future hinges. Glover's candid admission highlights that for the astronauts, the return journey is not an afterthought but the central, defining challenge of the expedition. Reentering from a lunar mission involves speeds exceeding 24,500 miles per hour, generating temperatures nearly half as hot as the surface of the Sun on the spacecraft's heat shield. The precision required is extraordinary; an error of a fraction of a degree in the angle of attack could lead to catastrophic failure, resulting in the capsule skipping off the atmosphere or burning up. Glover's three years of contemplation speak to the immense burden on the crew, who must trust in years of engineering work while remaining prepared to take manual control should the automated systems falter during those critical minutes. This intense focus on reentry reflects hard lessons from history. NASA's operational culture, forged in the aftermath of past tragedies, now emphasizes visualizing and rehearsing every conceivable scenario, especially the most dangerous phases of flight. For Glover, a seasoned naval aviator and test pilot, this means countless hours in...

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Categoria: cronaca