NASA’s Orion spacecraft to break a 52-year-old record set by Apollo 13 

The world remembers the historic Apollo 11 mission of NASA, that was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon in July 1969. But there is hardly any limelight on the Apollo 13 (seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space programme and the third aimed to land on Moon) mission that followed the next year. Do you know why? Because the mission wasn’t a success and had to be aborted ahead of the lunar landing due to oxygen tank malfunction, only two days into the mission. But guess what? By then, Apollo 13 had travelled a whooping distance of 4,00,171 kilometres from the Earth, making it the spacecraft to have traversed the longest distance in the history of space missions, until recently. 

Now, only 10 days after it was launched, NASA’s latest spacecraft named Orion surpassed the record set by Apollo 13 that had lasted for 52 years. In fact, it has entered the record books for travelling the farthest distance of 4,32,192 kilometres from the Earth. Orion is expected to enter a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon soon as it continues to cruise at a speed of 4200 kilometres per hour. Moreover, once inside the orbit, it will stay back for six days before returning to the planet.   

But wait, that’s not all Orion has accomplished this week. Its first orbital maintenance was a success and it was able to propel at a speed of 0.47 feet per second, another feat in itself. This is expected to fine tune Orion’s trajectory as it continues with its short-lived journey.  

For those unaware, Orion is the spacecraft recruited for NASA’s latest Artemis 1 mission that aims to carry humans to deep space and back to Earth. As part of this first attempt, it will explore a part of the lunar South Pole and make way for the upcoming long-term human presence on the Moon. Once that is accomplished, it will then send astronauts to Mars for another long-lived stay.  

Now, if you are wondering whether Orion will safely come back on Earth, it certainly will. After all, it is equipped with a suited mannequin called Commander Moonikin Campos, named after Arturo Campos, who was a key player in bringing Apollo 13 crew back (even though the mission ended abruptly) safely. What’s interesting is that, Commander Moonikin Campos is outfitted with sensors that can detect any kind of threat to the Orion’s crew and can provide immediate data to ground control, ensuring maximum safety and furthering human advancement in the field of space exploration.  

Interestingly, Orion derives its name from the star Orion that is located to the east of Taurus and can be visible from the equator having the figure of a hunter with a belt and sword.