The Orion capsule carrying four astronauts executed a key thruster firing on Thursday, kicking the crew out of Earth's orbit and onto a path toward the moon. This commits them to reaching the farthest distance humans have ever traveled in space.
The successful maneuver puts the crew on track to enter the moon's gravitational influence by Sunday morning. They aim to beat the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. Commander Reid Wiseman described taking photos of Earth from roughly 40,000 miles away, comparing it to photographing the moon from a backyard.
Not long after launch, astronaut Christina Koch alerted mission control to a red blinking light signaling a problem with Orion’s toilet. Mission engineers implemented a fix. Orion uses a $24 million Universal Waste Management System that recycles urine and seals solid waste.
The astronauts have GoPro action cameras, iPhones, and professional Nikon cameras to document the flight. The decision to equip the crew with iPhones was made under NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. NASA expects to release images later in the mission, including an anticipated "Earthrise" photo.