ARTEMIS I MOON MISSION

Nasa capsule heads for splashdown

REUTERS

Nasa’s uncrewed Orion capsule yesterday hurtled through space on the final return leg of its voyage around the moon and back, winding up the inaugural mission of the Artemis lunar program 50 years to the day after Apollo’s final moon landing. The capsule was due to parachute into the Pacific at 1739 GMT near Guadalupe Island, off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. Orion was nearing the end of its 25-day mission. The debut SLS-Orion voyage kicked off Apollo’s successor program, Artemis, aimed at returning astronauts to the lunar surface this decade and establishing a sustainable base there as a stepping stone to future human exploration of Mars.