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NASA's Orion spacecraft has reached more than 432,000km from Earth — the farthest distance scheduled on its Artemis I mission and the farthest any spacecraft built for humans has travelled.
- The uncrewed spacecraft is designed to carry astronauts to deep space destinations
- Orion is in a healthy condition as it continues its journey in a highly stable orbit where little fuel is required
- NASA and the US Navy are preparing for recovery of Orion when it splashes down on December 11
The uncrewed spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to deep space destinations reached the halfway point of it's 25.5 day mission on Tuesday morning, AEST.
The mission will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, with the goal of a safe crew module entry, descent, splashdown and recovery.
On Tuesday, NASA confirmed the mission was on track, with the spacecraft in a healthy condition as it continued its journey in deep retrograde orbit, a highly stable orbit where little fuel is required.
"Because of the unbelievable can-do spirit, Artemis I has had extraordinary success and has completed a series of history making events," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said.
"It's incredible just how smoothly this mission has gone, but this is a test. That's what we do – we test it and we stress it."
Engineers had originally planned an orbital maintenance burn around the halfway mark, but determined it was not necessary because of Orion's already precise trajectory.
Based on Orion's performance, managers are examining adding seven additional test objectives to reduce risk before flying future missions with crew.
Flight controllers have completed about 37.5 per cent of the test objectives associated with the mission, with many remaining objectives set to be evaluated during entry, descent, splashdown, and recovery.
NASA's Exploration Ground Systems team and the US Navy are beginning initial operations for recovery of Orion when it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.