Orion is a partially reusable spacecraft which is designed to be capable of supporting a crew of six beyond low Earth orbit.
The spacecraft was blasted into space using Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS) on November 16 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Over the course of 25.5 days, the space agency tested Orion in the harsh environment of deep space before flying astronauts on Artemis II.
“The splashdown of the Orion spacecraft – which occurred 50 years to the day of the Apollo 17 Moon landing – is the crowning achievement of Artemis I. From the launch of the world’s most powerful rocket to the exceptional journey around the Moon and back to Earth, this flight test is a major step forward in the Artemis Generation of lunar exploration,” said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson.
During the mission, Orion performed two lunar flybys, coming within 80 miles of the lunar surface.
At its farthest distance during the mission, Orion traveled nearly 270,000 miles...