Orion breaks NASA's Apollo 13 record of travelling the farthest distance from Earth

NASA’s Orion spacecraft has broken the record of the farthest distance travelled by a human-rated spacecraft in over 50 years. The uncrewed capsule launched to the Moon for the Artemis 1 mission flew over 4,00,171 kilometers from Earth at 7:10 pm IST on November 26, breaking the record set by Apollo 13's "Odyssey" on April 15, 1970. 

This feat was achieved as NASA inserted the spacecraft into the distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the Moon before it swings for a journey back to Earth. 

What's next for Orion?

Orion is currently on the 12th day of its mission which would end with the spacecraft splashing down into the Pacific Ocean on December 11. As of now, it is currently in the DRO, which is a path around the Moon where a spacecraft orbits the Moon in a direction opposite to the lunar orbit around the Earth. This path is called 'distant' because the spacecraft will be over 64,000 km above the lunar surface. 

The process of inserting Orion into the DRO began on November 26 when the mission teams fired its thrusters at 4:22 am IST. NASA says that prior to the orbit insertion burn, Orion was travelling over 90,000 km from the Moon, which is the farthest it will go beyond the lunar surface during Artemis 1. "While in lunar orbit, flight controllers will monitor key systems and perform checkouts while in the environment of deep space," NASA said in an official statement. 

According to NASA, Orion will cover half the DRO in about three days from now and will harness the Moon’s gravitational force once again, combined with a precisely timed lunar flyby burn to slingshot toward Earth. Designed to carry astronauts in future missions, NASA is testing Orion's durability in deep space. The agency is monitoring Orion's propulsion systems, communication and navigation systems, systems and features to handle radiation events and most importantly the heat shield. The heat shield is equipped at the base of Orion which would protect astronauts during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Artemis 1 will validate the heat shield that will have to endure temperatures up to 2,700°C.