Dailynasanews

On Dec. 5, NASA will air the lunar flyby of the Orion spacecraft on its return trek toward Earth. Orion completed a burn Dec. 1 to exit a lunar orbit thousands of miles beyond the Moon, where engineers have been testing systems to improve understanding of the spacecraft before future missions with astronauts. The return powered flyby burn, in which the spacecraft will harness the Moon's gravity and accelerate back toward Earth, is expected at 11:43 a.m. (1643 UTC) The spacecraft is expected to fly about 79 miles above the lunar surface at 11:42 a.m. (16:42 UTC) just before the burn. Orion launched aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at 1:47 am EST (0647 UTC) on Nov. 16 from historic Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Orion entered a distant retrograde orbit on at 4:52 p.m. EST (2152 UTC) on Nov. 25, where the spacecraft has been testing systems in a deep space environment. The Artemis I mission is the first integrated test of NASA's deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, the SLS rocket, and Kennedy Space Center ground systems. Credit: Nasa

When it comes to space, humans and robots go way back. We rely heavily on our mechanical friends to perform tasks that are too dangerous, difficult, or out of reach for us humans. We're even working on a new generation of robots that will help us explore in advanced and novel ways. Learn more about the CADRE-Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration-project and how this new network of mini rovers could enable future self-guided robotic exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. https://go.nasa.gov/3k5EuZx Producers: Scott Bednar, Jessica Wilde Editor: James Lucas CREDIT : NASA