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[b]Orion Departs Distant Retrograde Orbit[/b] Orion has left its distant lunar orbit and is on its return journey home. The spacecraft successfully completed the distant retrograde departure burn at 4:53 p.m. EST (2153 GMT) on Thursday (Dec. 1), firing its main engine for 1 minute 45 seconds to set it on course for a close lunar flyby before heading back to Earth. The burn changed Orion's velocity by about 454 feet per second and was performed using the Orion main engine on the European Service Module. The burn is one of two maneuvers required ahead of Orion's splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11. The second will occur on Monday (Dec. 5), when the spacecraft will fly 79.2 miles above the lunar surface and perform the return powered flyby burn, which will commit Orion on its course toward Earth. A trajectory correction burn was conducted at 10:53 p.m. EST on Thursday to fine-tune the spacecraft's path.
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