Orion Recovery Complete | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion Recovery Complete | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I Moon Mission was successfully recovered inside the well deck of the U.S. Navy's USS Portland on Dec. 11, 2022, off the coast of Baja California. After launching atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Nov. 16, 2022, from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Orion spent 25.5 days in space before returning to Earth, completing the Artemis I mission. At its farthest distance during the mission, Orion traveled nearly 270,000 miles from our home planet, more than 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station orbits Earth, to intentionally stress systems before flying crew.

The Artemis I mission was the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, the SLS rocket, and Kennedy Space Center's Exploration Ground Systems.

Artemis I provides the foundation for sending humans to the lunar surface, for developing a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and for paving the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

Learn more about Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Release Date: December 11, 2022

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