NASA’s Orion capsule and its ‘Zohar’ test dummy returning from moon

By AP and ToI Staff 11 December 2022, 7:18 pm

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The NASA Artemis rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen on pad 39B during sunset at the Kennedy Space Center, June 27, 2022, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP/John Raoux)

NASA’s Orion capsule and its test dummies are hurtling toward Earth to end a 25-day test flight around the moon.

One of the test dummies aboard the flight, dubbed “Zohar,” is wearing an anti-radiation suit from the Israeli company StemRad, co-developed with Lockheed Martin, to protect vital organs from harmful gamma radiation, on mannequins aboard the Orion.

Flight controllers target a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. A Navy recovery ship is positioned within a few miles (kilometers) of the intended site.

Orion rocketed to the moon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on November 16, and spent nearly a week in a wide, swooping lunar orbit, before heading home. The $4 billion demo should allow astronauts to strap in for the next lunar flyby in a couple of years.