Raphael Thys
NASA's next-generation spaceship, Orion, is designed to take humans farther than they've ever gone before. During Artemis I, an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, the spacecraft will venture thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about 4-6 weeks.
The spacecraft will launch on the world's most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida later this year.
The upcoming Artemis I mission will be a test flight of the SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft. It will advance and validate the capabilities required for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations including Mars. On the next mission, Artemis II, Orion will fly by the Moon with four astronauts aboard.
During the uncrewed Artemis I mission, Orion will journey thousands of miles beyond the Moon to evaluate the spacecraft's capabilities in a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO). According to NASA, DRO provides a highly stable orbit where little fuel is required to stay for an extended trip in deep space.
The spaceship will travel about 240,000 miles from Earth to the Moon, then about 40,000 miles beyond the Moon at its farthest point while flying in DRO. Orion will use a combination of propulsion from the service module built by the European Space Agency and a flyby of the Moon for a gravity assist to push toward DRO and stabilize in the orbit.
"Without crew aboard the first mission, DRO allows Orion to spend more time in deep space for a rigorous mission to ensure spacecraft systems, like guidance, navigation, communication, power, thermal control and others are ready to keep astronauts safe on future crewed missions," explains Mike Sarafin, Artemis Mission Manager.
To exit DRO, NASA's Orion spacecraft will again rely on a combination of propulsive burns and gravity assist from the Moon for its return trip to Earth.
.@NASA_Orion is going farther than any human-rated spacecraft has gone before. The #Artemis I mission will journey thousands of miles beyond the Moon to ensure a safe, successful trip for future crews in deep space: https://t.co/Un8ATxWa0a pic.twitter.com/p4Y72DX2Ac