Orion spacecraft breaks records on Artemis I mission around the Moon

On Nov. 16, 2022, NASA's Orion spacecraft left Earth for a record-breaking mission – Artemis I. Over the course of 25.5 days, Orion performed two lunar flybys, coming within 80 miles of the lunar surface. At its farthest distance during the mission, Orion traveled nearly 270,000 miles from our home planet, more than 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station orbits Earth, to intentionally stress systems before flying crew on Artemis II.

During the flight test, Orion stayed in space longer than any spacecraft designed for astronauts has done without docking to a space station. While in a distant lunar orbit, Orion surpassed the record for distance traveled by a spacecraft designed to carry humans, previously set during Apollo 13.
Upon re-entry, Orion performed a skip entry technique that enables the spacecraft to splashdown accurately and consistently at the selected landing site. The spacecraft endured temperatures about half as hot as the surface of the Sun at about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Within about 20 minutes, Orion slowed from nearly 25,000 mph to about 16 mph for its 11 parachute-assisted splashdown on Dec. 11.