NASA’s Artemis 1 mission leaves distant retrograde orbit for return to Earth

NASA has fired up the main engine for the Orion spacecraft, which is part of the Artemis 1 mission. The engine was fired up about one minute and 45 seconds to depart a distant retrograde orbit of the Moon at 3.23 AM IST on December 2. This engine burn is one of the two manoeuvres required before Orion’s planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 11. Next, the spacecraft will fly about 127 kilometres above the surface of the Moon on Monday, December 5.

In the meanwhile, mission teams continued the thermal tests of star trackers. These star trackers are navigation tools that measure the position of the stars to help Orion calculate its orientation in space.

We’ve left lunar orbit! @NASA_Orion fired its main engine today to exit distant retrograde orbit and set itself on a course for Earth. The burn is one of two maneuvers we’ll make ahead of splashdown on Dec 11. Next up? Return powered fly by on Dec 5. https://t.co/3gPLuhoFxD pic.twitter.com/RHjM2ATsWY

— Jim Free (@JimFree) December 1, 2022

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On Saturday, November 26, the Orion spacecraft broke the record for the farthest distance from Earth travelled by a human-rated spacecraft when it went 258,655 miles away.

This record was earlier held by the Apollo 13 spacecraft, which travelled 248,655 miles away from our planet. The halfway mark of the mission was passed on November 29 (day 13 of the mission).