Mass Effect in real life: NASA astronauts showed the first photo of the Earth taken from aboard the Orion spacecraft

The Artemis II mission, launched by NASA, is going according to plan. The Orion spacecraft completed an important maneuver and astronauts are going to the Moon. They have already shown a photo of the Earth taken at a distance of more than 70 thousand kilometers.

The launch of the rocket with the Orion spacecraft took place the day before. The goal of this 10-day mission is to fly around the moon and return to Earth. Landing on the satellite is not planned this time, but it will be the next step if everything goes well now.

There are four people on board: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. They've already taken a historic photo. The frame shows the Ground and the lower part of the Orion service module, where the engines are located.

If you are interested in space subjects, then while waiting for new photos from Orion, you can explore the surface of the Moon on your own. In December, a free simulator Real Moon was released, created with the support of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The plot is built around an astronaut who needs to find a specific place on the Earth's satellite. You can reach your destination either on foot or by moon rover. When designing the lunar surface, the authors relied on reliable scientific data.

And if you are interested in unexplored deep space, then two games on this topic will be released in 2027: Exodus and The Expanse: Osiris Reborn. The authors of the science fiction projects supported each other and even came up with a common name for the releases, Expandus.

By the way, on the occasion of the launch of Artemis II, the editors of VGTimes have also prepared a large selection of games about conquering the moon.

Are you following the progress of the Artemis II mission?