Overview
- NASA says Orion is on a nominal course back to Earth with splashdown planned as scheduled.
- The four-astronaut spacecraft reached about 406,771 kilometers from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13's distance record.
- Orion passed the Moon's far side and approached to roughly 6,545 kilometers for close-up observations of surface features.
- NASA released new images captured during the mission, including a roughly 54-minute total solar eclipse and views of Earth setting beyond the lunar horizon.
- The crew spoke from space in a news briefing and said lessons from this test will prepare the next teams in the Artemis program.