The Orion spacecraft’s record-setting distance from Earth made for beautiful images, apparently. NASA has shared a photograph taken by the Artemis I car on Monday displaying each Earth and the Moon within the background. Much like some Apollo images or Voyager 1’s “Pale Blue Dot,” the image places humanity’s residence in perspective — our world is only one small planet in a a lot bigger cosmos.

Orion took the snapshot round its most distance from Earth of 268,563 miles. That’s the farthest any human-oriented spacecraft has traveled, beating even Apollo 13’s file of 248,655 miles from 1970. Notably, Artemis I represents the primary time explorers meant to journey this far out — Apollo 13 solely ventured so removed from Earth as a result of NASA’s emergency flight plan required the Moon as a slingshot.

Ars Technica notes that this early Artemis flight has to this point surpassed NASA’s expectations. While the mission workforce has solely accomplished 31 out of 124 core targets to this point, it is including targets like prolonged thruster checks. About half of the remaining actions are in progress, with the remaining largely depending on returning to Earth.

Orion is anticipated to splash down off the San Diego coast on December eleventh. The Artemis program has handled quite a few delays, and now is not anticipated to land people on the Moon till 2025 or 2026. NASA initially hoped for a lunar touchdown in 2024. Still, Artemis I’s present efficiency suggests the house company’s efforts are lastly paying off.