The perigee raise maneuver was successfully completed, refining the Orion spacecraft’s orbit around Earth. The interim cryogenic propulsion stage ignited its RL10 engine for a precisely timed burn that increased the lowest point of the spacecraft’s orbit.
Shortly after the burn, the spacecraft experienced a loss of communications, when the ground was not able to receive data from the crew or spacecraft. It was shortly resolved, and the crew confirmed that they were able to hear communications from the ground throughout. The ground teams are looking into what might have caused the drop out.
NASA will hold a postlaunch news conference at 8 p.m. EDT from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Participants are:
- Administrator Jared Isaacman
- Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
- Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate
- Norm Knight, director, Flight Operations Directorate
The next major milestone is the apogee raise burn that will increase the highest point of the Orion spacecraft’s orbit and prepare the spacecraft for the approximately 23.5-hour checkout in high Earth orbit.