NASA Sets New Space Flight Record with Artemis 1 Orion Capsule

NASA’s Artemis 1 Orion Capsule has set a new space flight record for spacecraft designed to carry humans by traveling 4,01,798 kilometers from Earth. The record was previously held by Apollo 13 which logged the record on 14th April 1970 by traveling 400,171 kilometers.

NASA Sets New Space Flight Record with Artemis 1 Orion Capsule – Key Points

• Artemis 1 Orion Capsule was designed to stress the systems Orion and NASA sent the capsule into distant retrograde orbit.
• Since, Orion is not staffed, the Apollo 13 crew still holds the record for the farthest distance from Earth reached by humans.
• The Orion is carrying a manikin named “Commander Moonikin Campos”, after the late Arturo Campos.
• Arturo Campos was the man responsible for the emergency procedures that ensured Apollo 14 had enough power to safely splash down on earth.
• “Moonikin” is outfitted with sensors to measure radiation levels and physical stress a crew would feel on a similar flight to the moon and back.
• Apollo 13 was not originally designed to travel that far, and the craft was only supposed to complete a moon landing.
• The plan was quickly aborted when a mid-air explosion damaged the craft’s service module and the focus then shifted to bringing the crew back safely.

Today, @NASA_Orion will break the record for farthest distance of a spacecraft designed to carry humans to deep space and safely return them to Earth. This record is currently held by Apollo 13.

Hear from Apollo astronauts and flight directors on the future of #Artemis: pic.twitter.com/fH35MXFfS3

— NASA (@NASA) November 26, 2022