Washington, Nov 29 (IANS) NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft has surpassed the record set in 1970 by the crew on Apollo 13’s aborted mission to land on the Moon.
NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft reached the farthest distance from Earth during the Artemis I mission — 268,563 miles (432,210) from our home planet.
The earlier record was set during the Apollo 13 mission at 248,655 miles (400,171 kms) from Earth.
“The spacecraft also captured imagery of Earth and the Moon together throughout the day, including of the Moon appearing to eclipse Earth,” NASA said in a statement late on Monday.
The US space agency said that the spacecraft remains in healthy condition as it continues its journey in distant retrograde orbit, an approximately six-day leg of its larger mission thousands of miles beyond the Moon.
“Because of the unbelievable can-do spirit, Artemis I has had extraordinary success and has completed a series of history making events,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.