NASA's Artemis I Orion Spacecraft: Approaching The Moon

NASA's Artemis I Orion Spacecraft: Approaching The Moon

Orion’s black-and-white optical navigation camera captured this view of the Moon on the fourth day of the Artemis I mission. Orion is now less than 80,000 miles from the Moon. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness as a method for determining its position in space for future missions under differing lighting conditions.

Learn more about the mission and track the Orion spacecraft’s current position at: www.nasa.gov/trackartemis/ 

The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration. It will demonstrate NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. Orion is completing a 25-day test of all key systems. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

On the Artemis III Mission, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone on the way to Mars. 

Learn more about Artemis I at:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: Nov. 19, 2022

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