The spacecraft portion of the Artemis 1 mission has completed its planned lunar orbits and begun the return journey to Earth. According to Space.com, Orion completed its 1 minute and 45 seconds lunar departure burn on 1 December. The return journey should take 10 days and splashdown is planned for 11 December.

On 28 November Orion broke the distance record, moving further away from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft. It reached some 430,000km from Earth at its greatest extent.

Artemis 1 was a test mission to orbit the Moon without crew. Artemis 2 will put astronauts into orbit around the Moon in 2024 and Artemis 3 will land humans on the moon, no earlier than 2025. It will be the first time humans have set foot on Earth’s nearest neighbour for 50 years.

The Orion craft was launched on 16 November by the most powerful rocket ever built. The soc-called Space Launch System was manufactured by Boeing and stands 98m high and is capable of carrying payloads of 45 tonnes to lunar orbit, eventually including the first astronauts to travel to the Moon for 50 years. It can generate 4,000,000 kg of thrust, 15% more than the Saturn V rocket that powered the Apollo programme.