Artemis 1. Moon and Earth in one frame from the Orion ship. Soon another flyby next to the Silver Globe

The Orion spacecraft has been circling the moon since a great long distance and again approaching the Silver Globe. Now NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA) has published another beautiful photo from the cameras of the capsule. In some of them we can see both the Moon and the Earth.

Moon and Earth in one frame

The photos were taken on day 13 of the Artemis 1 mission, when the Orion spacecraft was in a far retrograde orbit at its maximum distance from Earth, exactly 432,210 km from our planet. This is the distance record for a manned spacecraft (although currently, as part of Artemis 1 Orion flies unmanned) – explains NASA.

Interestingly, in some of the photos we can see both the NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) logos painted on the capsule shell. This is because the European Space Agency, in collaboration with the Americans, took care of the construction of the service module, in which both Orion’s main engine (used, among others, for orbit entry maneuvers) and the maneuvering motors.

On mission day 15, the ship’s service module fired the engine to maintain the planned trajectory religion. On the night of December 1-2, Orion will leave its current orbit and head straight for the Moon and Earth.

We continue to collect data on flight tests and minimize risks for manned flights. We are constantly learning how the system works and how to operate and work with the vehicle [Orion – red.] as a cohesive team

– said Mike Sarafin, head of the aforementioned Artemis 1 mission in a statement from NASA.

On December 5, Orion will again pass close to the Moon (but slightly further than the flyby 21 November, when it was record – just 128 km from the surface), then it will start its engines and leave the orbit of the Silver Globe, heading towards Earth. Quantity the return will last until 11 December. Then the capsule will enter the atmosphere of our planet and land in the Pacific Ocean.

More interesting facts about the Artemis 1 mission can be found at Gazeta.pl