160 to 2,000 km up

Low Earth orbit

The Space Station circles at about 420 km, once every 92 minutes. Crew capsules, cargo ships and most Earth-observing satellites work here.

about 705 km, over the poles

Sun-synchronous orbit

Landsat passes almost over the poles and crosses the equator at the same local time each day, so every picture of a place is lit the same way.

20,200 km up

Medium Earth orbit

GPS satellites fly in six orbital planes and circle twice a day. At least four are above the horizon anywhere on Earth at any moment.

35,786 km up, over the equator

Geostationary orbit

Here a satellite circles once a day and seems to hang over one place. NOAA’s GOES satellites watch the Americas from two such points.

384,400 km away

The Moon

Ten times farther than geostationary orbit. Orion takes about four days to get there; light takes 1.3 seconds.

1.5 million km away

Sun–Earth L2

Webb orbits a balance point on the far side of Earth from the Sun, where Sun, Earth and Moon all stay behind its sunshield.

April 1–2, 2026

A day in high Earth orbit

Artemis II first flew a long, looping orbit around Earth so the crew could check Orion’s systems close to home before committing to the Moon.

April 2–6, 2026

Toward the Moon

A burn of the service module’s engine set Orion on a free-return path: a route that swings around the Moon and falls back to Earth without another major burn.

April 6, 2026

Around the far side

Orion passed thousands of kilometres beyond the Moon’s far side — 252,756 miles from Earth, farther than any people had travelled.

April 10, 2026

Home

The Moon’s gravity bent the path back toward Earth. The crew module separated from its service module and splashed down in the Pacific.