The Earth and The Moon | NASA's Artemis I Orion Spacecraft

The Earth and The Moon | NASA's Artemis I Orion Spacecraft

On flight day 13, Nov. 28, 2022, Orion continues to distance itself from Earth and the Moon, looking back on our home planet and lunar neighbor as the Moon prepares to eclipse the Earth as seen from Orion.

NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft reached the farthest distance from Earth it will travel during the Artemis I mission—268,563 miles from our home planet—just after 3 p.m. CST. The spacecraft also captured imagery of Earth and the Moon together throughout the day, including of the Moon appearing to eclipse Earth. 

Reaching the halfway point of the mission on Flight Day 13 of a 25.5 day mission, the spacecraft remains in healthy condition as it continues its journey in distant retrograde orbit, an approximately six-day leg of its larger mission thousands of miles beyond the Moon.  

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

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Capture Date: Nov. 28, 2022

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