NASA's Orion spacecraft snaps a selfie on its journey beyond the far side of the moon - CNN

CNN  — 

NASA released a selfie taken by the Orion capsule and close-up photos of the moon’s crater-marked scenery arsenic the spacecraft continues connected the Artemis 1 mission, a 25-and-a-half time travel that volition instrumentality it much than 40,000 miles beyond the acold broadside of the moon.

Orion’s latest selfie — taken Wednesday, the eighth time of the mission, by a camera connected 1 of the capsule’s star arrays — reveals the spacecraft giving angles with a spot of satellite disposable successful the background. The close-up photos were taken Monday arsenic Orion made its closest attack to the moon, passing astir 80 miles (129 kilometers) supra the lunar surface.

Should Orion implicit its trek beyond the satellite and backmost to Earth, it volition beryllium the furthest a spacecraft intended to transportation humans has ever traveled. For now, the capsule is lone carrying inanimate, technological payloads.

Orion is portion of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to yet found a lunar outpost that tin permanently big astronauts for the archetypal clip successful history, successful the hopes of 1 time paving a way to Mars.

The Artemis I ngo launched November 16, erstwhile NASA’s beleaguered and long-delayed Space Launch System, oregon SLS, rocket vaulted the Orion capsule to space, cementing the rocket arsenic the astir almighty operational motorboat conveyance ever built.

As of Thursday afternoon, the capsule was 222,993 miles (358,972 kilometers) from Earth and 55,819 miles (89,831 kilometers) from the Moon, zipping on astatine conscionable implicit 2,600 miles per hour, according to NASA.

Orion is present astir a time from entering a “distant retrograde orbit” astir our closest neighbour — distant, due to the fact that it volition beryllium astatine a precise precocious altitude supra the lunar surface, and retrograde, due to the fact that it volition ellipse the satellite successful the other absorption from which the satellite travels astir Earth.

The way is meant to “stress test” the Orion capsule, arsenic Michael Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis ngo manager, enactment it past week.

According to NASA’s Artemis blog, the agency’s tv sum of the distant retrograde orbit insertion pain is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET Friday and the pain is scheduled to instrumentality spot astatine 4:52 p.m. ET.

After lapping the moon, the Orion capsule is expected to crook backmost toward Earth and marque a gentle splashdown landing successful the Pacific Ocean connected December 11.