Orion: "Goodbye Moon! Hello Earth!" | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion: "Goodbye Moon! Hello Earth!" | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

NASA's Orion spacecraft continues its journey home to Earth, which appears in these images from December 7, 2022, as a crescent, still 234,000 miles away. The Moon appears smaller in these images from Orion’s perspective on flight day 22 as the Artemis I spacecraft continues distancing itself from our lunar neighbor, over 125,000 miles away at this point.

The Artemis I spacecraft is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Dec. 11. 

Orion launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More on Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Capture Date: Dec. 7, 2022

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