After a test flight around the Moon, America's next-generation astronaut ship is about to come home.
Orion was lined up for the day's event by its European propulsion module.
The incoming velocity will be extremely high. The capsule will be moving at 40,000km/h - or 32 times the speed of sound - when it touches the top of our planet's atmosphere.Friction and pressure on Orion's forward-facing surface will generate temperatures likely to reach close to 3,000C . What that earlier flight did do, however, was prove the effectiveness of the parachute system. Eleven chutes are used in sequence to slow the final part of the descent to the ocean's surface.In contrast to the helicopters that performed hoisted recoveries of Apollo capsules, Orion will be floated into a flooded well deck at the back of the navy vessel.
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