Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

After lunar flyby, Orion snaps incredible ‘Earthset’ image

By

Five days after launching from Earth aboard NASA’s next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the Orion spacecraft has performed a successful flyby of the moon, coming within just 81 miles of its surface. During its close encounter, it also snapped a striking image of Earth.

NASA posted the incredible “Earthset” photo on Monday. It shows Earth moving behind the moon, with part of the Orion spacecraft also visible.

Recommended Videos

Earthset. 🌎@NASA_Orion captured this shot of Earth “setting” while the spacecraft passed close to the Moon. Nearly 270,000 miles (430,000 km) away, #Artemis I will soon surpass Apollo 13’s record-setting distance from Earth in a spacecraft designed to carry astronauts. pic.twitter.com/lvDS7nGPRo

— NASA (@NASA) November 21, 2022

Related

The uncrewed Artemis I mission is testing new hardware ahead of crewed missions to the moon that will culminate in a permanent astronaut presence on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, similar to how humans live and work on the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit today.

“Orion passed 81 miles above the moon, traveling at 5,102 mph,” NASA said in an update on its website on Monday, November 21. “At the time of the lunar flyby, Orion was more than 230,000 miles from Earth.”

The space agency added: “The outbound powered flyby burn is the first of two maneuvers required to enter the distant retrograde orbit around the moon. The spacecraft will perform the distant retrograde orbit insertion burn Friday, November 25, using the European Service Module.”

It confirmed that the Orion spacecraft will stay in this orbit for about a week to test its various spacecraft systems.

The Orion will reach its greatest distance from Earth on Monday, November 28, when it will be more than 268,500 miles from home — further than any human-rated spacecraft has ever traveled into space.

NASA is clearly delighted with how the mission is going so far. All being well, the spacecraft will return to Earth for a splashdown landing off the coast of California on December 11.

A successful mission will pave the way for Artemis II, which will take the same route, but with astronauts on board. Artemis III, which could take place as early as 2025, will endeavor to put the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface as NASA moves toward establishing a permanent presence on our nearest celestial neighbor.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Orion prepares to return to Earth ahead of splashdown tomorrow
The engines on Orion’s service module are prominently featured in this image from flight day 22 of the Artemis I mission. The largest is the orbital maneuvering system engine, surrounded by eight smaller auxiliary thrusters.

NASA's Orion spacecraft is on its way home from its orbit of the moon and is due to splash down in the Pacific Ocean tomorrow, Sunday, December 11. Teams on the ground are performing last-minute checks of all the required systems for tomorrow's splash down, and the Orion craft has performed a series of final tests of its thrusters.

To control its re-entry into the atmosphere, Orion will use a set of engines called its crew module reaction control thruster system. These small thrusters control the direction and stabilization of the module which would be holding the human astronauts if this were a crewed flight. As this mission is uncrewed, its aim is to test whether astronauts can safely be transported. To test out these thrusters, teams fired each one in a quick burst of 75 milliseconds in what is called a hot fire test. By firing thrusters in pairs on opposite sides of the spacecraft, they could be tested with minimal disruption to Orion's direction.

Read more
NASA releases stunning hi-res moon images from Orion flyby
NASA's Orion spacecraft as it flies by the moon.

By all accounts, NASA’s Artemis I mission has been going extraordinarily well, setting up the space agency for a crewed landing on the lunar surface possibly as soon as 2025.

The mission started on November 16 with the maiden flight of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the most powerful space vehicle ever to have flown.

Read more
Orion has close encounter with moon before heading home
NASA's Orion spacecraft passing close to the moon.

NASA has shared remarkable footage showing its Orion spacecraft passing over the lunar surface at an altitude of just 687 miles.

The flyby, which at one point took the uncrewed spacecraft to within 79 miles of the moon’s surface, took place on Monday, December 6, just over three weeks after the Orion left Earth on the Artemis I mission. The spacecraft made a similarly close approach to the lunar surface last month, too.

Read more