Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

NASA's Orion spacecraft, which carried out the Artemis 1 mission, entered lunar orbit and reached the apogee on Friday, Nov.26.

Orion was launched on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on November 16 and arrived at its destination on the afternoon of November 25. Orion's engines then started for 88 seconds and successfully launched it into a "distant retrograde orbit"(DRO) as planned.

NASA officials wrote in an update shortly after Orion's engine shut down: "Shortly before starting its engines, Orion was flying at an altitude of more than 57000 miles (about 92000 kilometers) above the lunar surface, its farthest distance from the moon. While in lunar orbit, flight controllers will monitor the performance of critical systems in a deep-space environment. "

The term "distant" in the DRO name refers to the apogee of the spacecraft's orbit around the moon, which is very far away, about 64000 kilometers from the lunar surface. When Orion follows this path, it will set a new record of 430,000 kilometers from Earth, farther than any previous crewed spacecraft.

The current record is about 400,000 kilometers, held by NASA's Apollo 13 mission. Apollo 13 wasn't supposed to travel that far, but a malfunction in the service module's oxygen tank meant it could only orbit the moon and not land on the lunar surface.

NASA officials say Orion will break Apollo 13's record on Saturday morning EST. But the craft will continue to fly farther, reaching its maximum distance of 272515 miles (438570 kilometers) next Monday.

Orion will fly for less than a week at the DRO, which will leave lunar orbit on Dec. 1, start its engines, and then begin its return journey to Earth. If all goes well, Orion will re-enter Earth on December 11 and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

The nearly 26-day Artemis 1 mission is designed to test Orion and Space Launch System rockets, and the Artemis 2 mission, which performs the first manned mission around the moon, is scheduled for 2024. The Artemis 3 mission will take place in 2025 or 2026 and attempt to land on the lunar surface.

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