The European Space Agency (ESA) released video of the Artemis 1 launch shot from an unusual viewpoint after the Orion spacecraft shattered a world record established by the Apollo 13 mission. The ESA video provides a top-down perspective of the launch and was captured by a camera on board the Orion spacecraft.
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s engine can be seen burning up in the top-down video, which looks down at the launchpad and moves the Orion spacecraft into a trajectory towards the Moon. If you only want to see the launch, you can skip to around the three-minute mark in the video, which is roughly three minutes and 33 seconds long.
The star trackers aboard the Orion spacecraft underwent yet another planned test on November 27, the twelfth day of the mission. The spacecraft started a new reaction control thruster flight test as it continued along its far-off retrograde orbit of the Moon.
The star tracker and inertial measurement unit data are used by the Orion spacecraft’s vehicle management computers to determine the spacecraft’s position, velocity, and attitude. The amount of propellant needed for manoeuvres will be decreased if the spacecraft’s navigation is accurately tracked.