Since Artemis I’s launch earlier in November, the Orion capsule has been making its trek to the Moon, where it has taken part in a retrograde orbit. During this time, the Orion has had some fantastic views of the Moon and the Earth, including a photo that NASA recently shared on its website.
If you’ve watched Orion since its launch, then you probably already know about its successful flyby, which also saw it capturing some haunting photos of the lunar surface when it came close. What makes this newest Orion photo of the Moon and Earth so fascinating, though, is that it’s one of the first times we have seen a photo of this quality of both the Moon and our planet.
Flight day 13: Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth during the #Artemis I mission when it was 268,563 miles away from our home planet. Orion has now traveled farther than any other spacecraft built for humans. pic.twitter.com/sfdPFjf7Og
— Orion Spacecraft (@NASA_Orion) November 29, 2022
Further, this image was taken 268,563 miles away from Earth. This is the furthest that a spacecraft designed for humans has ever gone. As such, Orion has provided a unique photo of the Moon and the Earth that is unlike anything else we have captured before. And it’s this photo that has excited me even more about the missions that NASA and others are pushing towards.
Orion is the first spacecraft designed to take humans to the Moon since the Apollo Missions back in the 1950s and 1960s. As such, a lot of the future of space exploration is really waiting to see how the capsule does during its mission. This is why so many eyes are on it and why this new Orion photo of the Moon and Earth is so exciting, too.
That’s because we have managed to accomplish something unique and unheard of before. Something that we haven’t done in over 50 years. And that will no doubt continue to build excitement as we work towards sending humans back to the Moon and even a manned mission to Mars sometime in the future. For now, though, we at least have this photo to look at and appreciate.