Orion should surpass the record for distance from Earth traveled by a spacecraft intended to return astronauts to Earth at 7:42 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday.
Orion’s thrusters fired at 4:52 p.m. Eastern time for a 1½ minutes, putting the craft into an orbit some 40,000 to 50,000 miles above the lunar surface. That orbit will place Orion on a path to break the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by “a spacecraft designed to carry humans to deep space and safely return to Earth.” The current record of 248,655 miles was set by Apollo 13 in 1970, NASA said in a statement.
If the current mission, known as Artemis I, goes well, NASA plans a second flight, this time with astronauts on board, as soon as 2024. That mission, known as Artemis II, would also orbit the moon, with a landing with humans to come afterward.“The mission continues to proceed as we had planned, and the ground systems, our operations teams and the Orion spacecraft continue to exceed expectations,” Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis I mission manager, said this week.
One of the main tests will come as the spacecraft re-renters Earth’s atmosphere, traveling at about 25,000 mph. The friction with the thickening air will produce temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.The spacecraft is expected to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Dec. 11.
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