Nasa’s Orion spaceship catapults around Moon, heads for home after three-week test flight
- At its nearest point, the uncrewed capsule flew less than 130 kilometres from the surface, testing manoeuvres that will be used during later missions to the moon
- A week ago, Orion broke the distance record for a habitable capsule, venturing 450,000 kilometres from our planet
Nasa’s Orion spaceship made a close pass of the Moon and used a gravity assist to whip itself back towards Earth on Monday, marking the start of the return journey for the Artemis-1 mission.
At its nearest point, the uncrewed capsule flew less than 80 miles (130 kilometres) from the surface, testing manoeuvres that will be used during later Artemis missions that return humans to the rocky celestial body.
Communication with the capsule was interrupted for 30 minutes when it was behind the far side of the Moon – an area more cratered than the near side and first seen by humans during the Apollo era, although they didn’t land there.
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The European Service Module, which powers the capsule, fired its main engine for over three minutes to put the gumdrop-shaped Orion on course for home.
“We couldn’t be more pleased about how the spacecraft is performing,” Debbie Korth, Orion Program deputy manager, said later.
As spectacular footage flashed on their screens once communication was restored, she told a news conference, “everybody in the room, we just kind of had to stop and pause, and just really look – Wow, we’re saying goodbye to the moon.”
Monday’s was the last major manoeuvre of the mission, which began when Nasa’s mega Moon rocket SLS blasted off from Florida on November 16. From start to finish, the journey should last 25 and a half days.