Nasa’s Orion capsule enters far-flung orbit around the moon
- The mission is a dress rehearsal for a crewed lunar fly-by in 2024, with a landing by astronauts expected as soon as 2025
- The last time humans were on the moon was 50 years ago, during Apollo 17
Nasa’s Orion capsule entered an orbit stretching tens of thousands of kilometres around the moon on Friday, as it neared the halfway mark of its test flight.
The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the US$4 billion demo that is meant to pave the way for astronauts.
It will remain in this broad but stable orbit for nearly a week, completing just half a lap before heading home.
As of Friday’s engine firing, the capsule was 380,000km (238,000 miles) from Earth. It is expected to reach a maximum distance of almost 432,000km in a few days. That will set a new distance record for a capsule designed to carry people one day.
“It is a statistic, but it’s symbolic for what it represents,” Jim Geffre, an Orion manager, said in a Nasa interview earlier in the week.