Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Orion nears farthest distance from Earth on Artemis I mission Richard Tribou Orlando Sentinel
spin and orbit of the Earth. The distant part means that Orion’s lunar orbit will reach nearly 40,000 miles from the moon’s surface. Orion entered DRO on Friday after having performed a slingshot around the moon on its closest approach last week, coming in about 81 miles from the surface. NASA plans to have Orion complete only one half of this orbit, so that on Thursday, NASA managers look to fire up its engines again to bring it back down for a close approach to the lunar surface. It will then approach and swing back around the moon on Dec. 5 to begin a return on a speedy trajectory to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11. The No. 1 milestone for the mission is to prove Orion’s heat shields can withstand re-entry. The expected speed of 24,500 mph that would generate near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit would also set a record for human-rated spacecraft.
ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA officials said the Orion spacecraft is approaching its farthest distance from Earth on Monday, two days after breaking a record set by Apollo 13. On Saturday, Orion, which launched atop the Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, surpassed the previous record of 248,655 miles from the planet, which was the farthest away from Earth astronauts Jim Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise traveled during their aborted 1970 moon-landing mission. The uncrewed Orion, which has three mannequin passengers on board, is set to travel to 268,554 miles from Earth by 4:48 p.m. Eastern time as part of the capsules’ distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the moon. Retrograde means the orbiting spacecraft See Orion on page 5 circles the moon opposite the moon’s
Courtesy of Tribune News Service On Nov. 20, 2022, the fifth day of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, a camera mounted on the tip of one of Orion’s solar array wings captured this footage of the spacecraft and the Moon as it continued to grow nearer to our lunar neighbor. (NASA/TNS)
Column The best thing to happen to OSU this season is it ending
Gabriel Trevino Sports Editor
Flash Gordon
Chase Davis
OSU freshman running back Ollie Gordon recorded 136 rushing yards in Saturday’s loss to West Virginia — the most from any OSU running back this season.
OSU rushing improves in regular season finale
Adam Engel Co-Editor-in-Chief Ollie Gordon hesitated and shielded his body behind a massive offensive lineman. Gordon switched direction to his right, juked and performed a feat OSU hasn’t done much of this season. He dodged opponents and logged a lengthy touchdown run. But his rushing contributions
weren’t enough. Improvement proved too late. West Virginia gashed the Cowboys with explosive runs to win 24-19 on a soggy afternoon in Boone Pickens Stadium. Gordon, though, kept the Cowboys in contention with his 23-yard scamper in the third quarter. He provided OSU with his first run longer than 20 yards against an FBS opponent. His 136 rushing yards became a single game team high this season. In a season where coach Mike Gundy and his coordinators preached rushing improvement, the Cowboys found some. “In fact, probably the best rushing game we’ve had all year
or a long time.” Gundy said. OSU didn’t have a rusher log more than 75 yards in a game since week two. Until Saturday. Gordon averaged eight yards a carry — nearly triple OSU’s average entering Saturday. He provided relief for a wounded team missing its starting back, Dominic Richardson, from an undisclosed injury. Gordon showed flashes of potential, but it seemed insignificant. OSU found rushing improvement in its regular season finale against a non-bowl eligible team. Not when it was needed most in early season Big 12 battles. See Gordon on page 4
The previous four games played within Boone Pickens Stadium were before a sold-out crowd. On Saturday, the upper sections were completely empty and the ones below contained scattered patches of fans across the stadium. Even the student section struggled to fill halfway. Sure, it rained throughout the morning game held two days after Thanksgiving, but the meager crowd had more to do with the team on the field. What began as a 6-1 season with high rankings in the polls became a 7-5 final regular season record, and a race for the Big 12 title game developed into hoping for 5th place in the conference. A modest crowd watched OSU lose to West Virginia 24-19, the first home loss since 2020, on Saturday. It became clear the importance of the games declined with the Cowboys’ play. With more losses came less answers, especially for the offense, which went from scoring 45 points per game in the first seven, to 13.6 in the final five. “It’s been difficult, we started out so promising, then to see it just collapse like it did, it’s hard,” said offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn. “You walk in after
the game and you don’t know what to say to the players. Things kinda spiral, and I don’t have answers as to why.” OSU will be in a bowl game, but won’t compete in it for another month. From now until then, the best thing for the Cowboys to do is reflect. The entire team will receive a week off — time it can use to recover from a long season, but also accept what happened. Accept the team didn’t play up to the 12win standard it set for itself after last season, evaluate why it didn’t and return content. It’s no good to let the humiliating and close losses simmer in the minds of both players and coaches. A 7-5 season isn’t what they hoped for, but it happened. Looking back instead of ahead to the bowl game and next season isn’t going to change the outcome or the middling box scores of those games. “We need a week off,” Gundy said. “We need to recover, get a few guys back, and they get to play one more game with each other. It gives us a chance to compete and play the best game they have in a few months.” After every season, players will decide to transfer. It’s the nature of college football in 2022. How many and who will decide to transfer? Only time will tell. Those who will return can be the building blocks for the team that will take the field next season. As a true freshman, wide receiver Brennan See Column on page 2