Apollo 13's command module Odyssey achieved the record for the farthest distance ever reached by a spacecraft designed for human travel: 400,171 km.
NASA's Artemis I and Orion spacecraft, launched this month, broke this distance at around 10:40 p.m. Japan time on November 16, achieving a new record.
Speaking of Apollo 13, some people may think of the 1995 Hollywood movie work. In the painting, Apollo 13 abandoned landing on the moon after one of the oxygen tanks in the mechanical ship part exploded due to electrical problems and returned after going around the back side of the moon. It miraculously returned to Earth using a free-falling orbit.
And at this time, Apollo 13 returned from an orbit about 100 km farther from the moon than other lunar missions, so the distance from the earth has reached the farthest position for a manned space flight. This record is certified by Guinness World Records.
Houston, we have a new record 🌎
— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) November 26, 2022
On Saturday Nov. 26, at 8:40 a.m. ET, @NASA_Orion broke the record for the farthest distance traveled from Earth of a human-rated spacecraft. The record was previously held by Apollo 13 at 248,655 statute miles from Earth. Go Artemis! pic.twitter.com/B4hcXHJESC
Artemis I's flight route wasn't set to break the Apollo 13 record, of course. NASA chose an orbit called DRO (Distant Retrograde Orbit) to conduct stress tests on the Orion spacecraft. This trajectory is planned to be used only for the Artemis I mission, and a different trajectory will be used thereafter.
Note that the Orion spacecraft will not stay in the DRO for long. As for the future schedule, we plan to leave orbit on December 1st, perform a lunar flyby on December 5th, return to Earth on December 11th, and land on the water off the coast of San Diego.