at the uk space agency. a massive moment. absolutely. and such a delight a massive moment. absolutely. and such a delight to a massive moment. absolutely. and such a delight to see a massive moment. absolutely. and such a delight to see the a massive moment. absolutely. and such a delight to see the spacecraftl such a delight to see the spacecraft safely touched down. the whole mission has gone to plan, save some difficulties getting off the launch pad a few weeks ago. the last big test was this brand new way to re enter the earth s atmosphere, with a skipped re entry testing out the heat shields and the parachutes. it was brilliant to see it back on earth and really looking forward to the next time it all goes ahead with humans on board. mit? the next time it all goes ahead with humans on board. the next time it all goes ahead with humans on board. why do you think that is so important? humans on board. why do you think that is so important? i humans on board. why do you t
you live here on the last hour. splash down, nasa s new multibillion dollar spacecraft successfully returning from opening the moon. it happened about 25, 30 minutes ago. that capsule traveled 1.4 million miles through space. a collective data that would help nasa send astronauts back to the moon. it s supposed to happen by 2025. a big part of the dissent was to test the spacecraft s heat shields. against the searing heat of entry. about 5000 degrees fahrenheit. that s about half as hot as the outer surface of the sun. we re gonna more on this for you with lindsey. she ll be coming back at the bottom of the hour. even more breaking news to share. right now, the january six committee is coming together this hour for what could be a critical meeting, the panel is weighing whether to make criminal referrals for any of its investigative targets. that includes donald trump. we are today, committee member adam schiff gave some new insight on what goes into the process of determining whether
so a couple of things to consider. typically, when the press talks about the re-entry where you have this fiery, yeah, in that image we are seeing the last few seconds where it hits the water at 20 miles per hour with the parachutes. before that happens it s dramatic as it re-enters earth s atmosphere. there are heat shields that dissipate the heat. so think this through. it is coming to earth back from the moon at 7 miles per second. this is a very high speed. then it slows down to 20 miles per hour. so that energy has to go somewhere. and so it burns off. there is a heat shield that is a blade of heat shields. one layer gets hot and evaporates away, then the next layer is ready to absorb more energy. you keep doing this until it slows down enough so it can land safely in the ocean. otherwise, it would be like a meteor coming down, it would
mars, you have to get them there safely, they can t burn up in re-entry. you have to protect them from the high temperatures and then you also have to land a lot of stuff there. more weight. so what this technology is designed to do, right now, a heat shield, that is the critical technology that was so critical during the shuttle era. think about the columbia accident, it was a damaged heat shield when it re-entered the earth atmosphere. but this one could inflate in space. right now the size is limited by the size of the rocket that it rised on so this one inflates in space. it could allow nasa to land people and protect them from the high temperatures on re-entry on the surface of mars and more cargo. right now, jim, the heat shields could only land about one ton on mars. this would allow them to land between 20 to 40 tons on mars. and, you know, just i have to
they will start the tanking process. wanted to tell you quickly, a little about the trajectory. orion will go close to the moon, go into distant retrograde. that s the farthest any vehicle for humans has traveled. the return back to earth is a test for the heat shields. the goal, to get man to the moon to build a lunar base camp, to go to mars. even though this is unmanned, it s a fact finding mission. science experiments will did he deployed as well. back out here on the launch pad, we are waiting for the two-hour launch window that starts at 1:04 a.m. eastern time. msnbc will cover that live. we are four miles away. i cannot wait to feel the power of that boom. let s hope that sticks. everything is in their corner this time around. we see that launch. we will watch alongside you.