Nasa's Orion capsule is edging closer to setting a new distance record as it approached the halfway mark of its moon mission. The unmanned test flight was 238,000 miles from Earth yesterday and is expected to reach a maximum distance of almost 270,000 miles in a few days.
The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the 4.0 billion US dollars (£330 billion) Artemis programme demo that is meant to pave the way for astronauts. It will remain in this broad but stable orbit for nearly a week, completing just half a lap before heading home.
That will set a new distance record for a capsule designed to carry people one day. “It is a statistic, but it’s symbolic for what it represents,” Jim Geffre, an Orion manager, said in a Nasa interview earlier in the week.
