Officials said NASA’s Orion spacecraft was successfully placed into lunar orbit Friday as part of the long-delayed Moon mission.
Just over a week had passed since the spacecraft left Florida bound for Florida. The MoonAccording to the US space agency, flight controllers had “successfully performed an burn to insert Orion in a distant retrograde orbit.” On its website.
The spacecraft is to take astronauts to the Moon in the coming years – the first to set foot on its surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
The first flight without a crew is intended to verify that the vehicle can fly safely.
NASA states that Orion will orbit the Moon at a distance of approximately 40,000 miles. .
The agency stated that flight controllers in lunar orbit will perform checks and monitor key systems while deep space is their environment.
Orion will take approximately one week to complete half the orbit around Moon. The orbit will end and it will begin its return journey home. NASA.
The spacecraft is expected to travel up to 40,000. This would be a record-breaking distance for a habitable capsule. Apollo 13’s spacecraft holds the record at 248,655 miles (400.171 km) distance from Earth.
The spacecraft will then return to Earth and begin the journey back, with a landing at the Pacific Ocean on December 11, just 25 days after its flight.
This mission’s success will decide the fate of Artemis 2, which will send astronauts around the Moon, but without landing. Artemis 3 will mark the end of human habitation on the Moon.
These missions are expected to be completed in 2024 or 2025, respectively.
