The Artemis 1 Orion crew vehicle has set a new record for a NASA flight. On Saturday, Orion flew farther than any spacecraft previously designed to carry human astronauts, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. Orion reached a distance of about 401,798 kilometers from Earth.
“Artemis I was designed to push Orion’s systems, and we decided on a remote retrograde orbit as a really good way to do that,” said Jim Geffre, Orion spacecraft integration manager. With the high altitude above the Moon, we were able to beat the Apollo 13 record. But more importantly, it was pushing the boundaries of exploration and sending spacecraft farther than we’ve ever done before.”
We can safely say that Artemis 1 is one of the most suitable candidates among all the tasks that can break the record. As Space.com points out, Apollo 13’s original flight plan did not require a record-breaking flight. Apollo 13’s Odyssey command module set the previous record 400,171 kilometers from Earth only after a mid-mission explosion forced NASA to set a new return path.
With the limited oxygen supply in the Aquarius Lunar Module, NASA needed to get Apollo 13 back to Earth as soon as possible. The agency eventually decided on a flight path that used the gravity of the Moon to bring Apollo 13 back to Earth. One of the critical NASA personnel in the safe return of astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise was Arturo Campos. He wrote the contingency plan that gave the Command and Service Module enough power to return to Earth. Artemis 1 carries a “Moonikin” test dummy named after the late Arturo.
Earlier this week, Orion completed its transit of the Moon. The spacecraft will begin its journey towards Earth after making a half-turn around the satellite. NASA expects Orion to land on the shores of San Diego on Dec.
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