The Artemis 1 program spacecraft has successfully completed Lunar Flyby, re-acquired Signal with Earth. With this, it has broken the record of Apollo era, the farthest distance traveled from Earth by any human rated spacecraft. The closest approach it made with Moon’s surface was around 128 km (80 miles).

Artemis 1 is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars. . 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.

This shot of Earth was captured while the spacecraft passed close to the Moon. The Earth is seen setting from the far side of the Moon just beyond the Orion in this taken picture on the sixth day of the Artemis I mission by a camera on the tip of one of spacecraft’s solar arrays.

The spacecraft was preparing for the Outbound Powered Flyby maneuver which would bring it within 80 miles of the lunar surface, the closest approach of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, before moving into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence on Sunday, 20 November, 2022, making the Moon, instead of Earth, the main gravitational force acting on the spacecraft.

Orion re-acquired signal with NASA’s Deep Space Network, at 6:29 pm IST on Monday, 21 November, 2022 after successfully performing the outbound powered flyby burn at 6:14 pm IST with a firing of the orbital maneuvering system engine for 2 minutes and 30 seconds to accelerate the spacecraft at a rate of more than 580 mph.

At the time of the burn, Orion was 328 miles above the Moon, travelling at 5,023 mph. Shortly after the burn, Orion passed 81 miles above the Moon, travelling at 5,102 mph. At the time of the lunar flyby, Orion was more than 230,000 miles from Earth.

On Tuesday, November 22, 2022, just after 2:15 am IST, Spacecraft had traveled 216,842 miles from Earth and was 13,444 miles from the Moon, cruising at 3,489 miles per hour. It will travel about 57,287 miles beyond the Moon at its farthest point from the Moon on 25 November, 2022, pass the record set by Apollo 14 for the farthest distance traveled by a spacecraft designed for humans at 248,655 miles from Earth on Saturday, 26 November, 2022, and reach its maximum distance from Earth of 268,552 miles Monday, 28 November, 2022.  

Upcoming Event

The launch of the SpaceX CRS-26 cargo Dragon resupply craft to the International Space Station has scheduled at 3:54 p.m. EST on Tuesday, 22 November, 2022.  Indian can enjoy the live broadcast at 2:24 am IST on Wednesday, 23 November, 2022.

Learn more about this launch through:

http://bharatexpressonline.com/science/nasa-next-mission-after-artemis-1-scientific-report-12432