On the 13th day of flight, Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission when it was 432,210 km (268,563 miles) from our home planet. Orion thus went further than any other spacecraft ever built for humans. Meanwhile, he also captured a wonderful photo frame with the Earth and the Moon.NASA shared incredible photo of Earth and Moon
NASA shared a photo taken by the Orion vehicle, part of the Artemis I mission, on Monday, showing both the Earth and the Moon in the background. With the sharing of the photo, the “pale blue dot” photo of the legendary Voyager 1 came to mind. Taken from only 432,210 km away, this photo reminds us once again that Earth is a small planet in the vast cosmos.
On the other hand, the location where Orion took the photo also represents the furthest distance traveled by any human-focused spacecraft. The record before Orion was held by Apollo 13 with 400,171 km. The question of why a vehicle whose target is the Moon is so far from both the Earth and the Moon may come to mind. NASA uses the Moon’s gravity and orbit to create a slingshot effect. In fact, this is how most spacecraft use planets and moons for faster travel.However, the Artemis 1 mission has exceeded NASA’s expectations. Although the mission team has completed only 31 of the 124 key objectives so far, crucial tests have been successfully carried out. About half of the remaining activities are already underway, with the rest largely dependent on the return to Earth.
Orion is expected to land on the shores of San Diego on December 11. The Artemis 1 program has dealt with numerous delays and still needs a little more time for manned missions. The Artemis 3 mission is aimed to be completed in 2025 or 2026 and to land a human on the Moon again. It will prepare for the main mission by performing various tests with Artemis 1 and Artemis 2 missions that it will perform in 2024.
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