NASA’s Orion spacecraft breaks record on the Apollo 13 flight

The Artemis 1 Orion crew vehicle has set a new NASA flight record. At approximately 8:40 a.m. ET on Saturday, Orion flew farther than any spacecraft ever designed to carry human astronauts, surpassing the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. As of 10:17 a.m. ET, Orion was approximately 249,666 miles (out of 401,798 kilometers) from Earth.

“Artemis I was designed to confirm Orion systems and we settled into the far retrograde orbit as a really good way to do that,” Jim Jeffer saidOrion Spacecraft Integration Manager. “It just so happened that with this really big orbit, and high above the moon, we were able to pass the Apollo 13 record. But more importantly, we’re pushing the boundaries of exploration and sending spacecraft further than we’ve ever done before.”

Of all the record-breaking missions, it was only fitting that Artemis 1 did it. as such Space.com pointing toThe original flight plan for Apollo 13 did not call for a record flight. Only after an explosion mid-mission forced NASA to plot a new return trajectory did the command module in Apollo 13’s Odyssey set the previous record at 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) from Earth.

With the Aquarius Lunar Module’s oxygen supply limited, NASA needed to return Apollo 13 to Earth as quickly as possible. The agency eventually settled on a flight path that would use the Moon’s gravity in the Apollo 13 catapult to return to Earth. Arturo Campos was a NASA personnel who was crucial to the safe return of astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise. He wrote the contingency plan that gave the Command and Service Unit enough strength to bring it back to Earth. Artemis 1 carries a “Moonikin” test dummy named after the late Arturo.

Earlier this week, Orion completed a flyby of the lunar surface. After the spacecraft completes half an orbit around the satellite, it will catapult itself toward Earth. NASA expects Orion to rain off the coast of San Diego on December 11th.