European Service Module solar panels and Moon

View of the Moon seen from ESA's European Service Module that is powering NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back, on flight day nine of the Artemis I mission, on 24 November 2022.

After its launch on November 16, Orion has been heading toward the Moon on its 25-day Artemis I mission. Orion was launched by the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at 7:47 CET (06:47 GMT) from launchpad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.4

The European Service Module is powering Orion, providing propulsion, temperature control, electricity as well as storage and delivery for essential supplies such as fuel, water and air. This first Artemis mission is an uncrewed test mission, putting the spacecraft through its paces preparing to send astronauts forward to the Moon.

The uncrewed mission to learn as much as possible about Orion and its European Service Module’s performance. The primary objectives are to demonstrate Orion’s heat shield on reentry, demonstrate operations and facilities during all mission phases, and retrieve the spacecraft after splashdown.