NASA’s Orion Snapped A Mind-Blowing Selfie Featuring Earth And The Moon

The picture shared by NASA was captured using a camera attached to one of Orion’s solar panels when the craft was a record 268,563 miles from Earth.

An extraordinary new photo from NASA’s Orion spacecraft is a humbling reminder of how small Earth and our moon, its sole natural satellite, are in the vast expanse of space. Orion, an uncrewed exploration vehicle currently on a test flight to inform future human-led missions, launched mid-November with the long overdue first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. On Monday, the craft fulfilled a key milestone, reaching the farthest distance from Earth that its mission, Artemis I, would take it.

Though Orion is currently flying without any passengers, the spacecraft is a foundational element of NASA’s plans for human deep space exploration. It will one day carry astronauts into space and safely back through Earth’s atmosphere upon their return, among other life-supporting activities around the moon and beyond. As part of the Artemis I mission, Orion last week made a close approach to the moon before moving into a high-altitude, retrograde lunar orbit. It’s expected to travel a total of 1.3 million miles before it comes home on Dec. 11.

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The latest Orion picture shared by NASA on Nov. 28 is somewhat of a selfie. Using a camera attached to one of its solar panels, the spacecraft snapped a closeup view of itself with the moon and Earth visible in the very distant background. At the time, Orion was a record 268,563 miles from Earth — a distance no other craft designed to carry humans has reached. The craft is now continuing on in its orbit beyond the moon, a trip that will take about six days in all.

Artemis I — What’s Next For Orion?

The Orion spacecraft was 43,138 miles from the moon on the evening of the photo, day 13 of the Artemis I mission, according to NASA. It now has just two more weeks to go before it splashes back down in the Pacific Ocean. Already, it’s being considered an “extraordinary success,” in the words of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “It’s incredible just how smoothly this mission has gone, but this is a test,” Nelson said in a blog update from the space agency. “That’s what we do — we test it and we stress it.”

Putting Orion through rigorous testing now will help to ensure the safety of its astronaut passengers in the future. Artemis II, for which NASA is tentatively targeting a spring 2024 launch, will usher in Orion’s first crewed flights. Before then, though, there will be much to learn from Orion’s solo trip around the moon.

More: Why Is NASA Sending Baker’s Yeast Into Space With The Artemis Mission?

Source: NASA blogs