NASA Orion flew by the Moon at a distance of 130 km (video)

Spacecraft of the National Administration forAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) USA Orion continues its exciting journey with the Artemis I mission.

The Orion spacecraft was in the areathe far side of the Moon, which is not visible from the Earth, when the main engine turned on for a while. This procedure was launched at 07:44 US East Coast time (15:44 Moscow time). As a result of this, the ship got as close as possible to the surface of the satellite, after which it began to move away from it in order to reach the desired orbit in a few days. Note that the maneuver took place in automatic mode, since at that time the ship was on the far side of the Moon and was not available for observation from the Earth.

Recall that the current flight of Orion takes place within the framework ofArtemis I mission - the ship must fly around the moon, after which it will return to Earth and splash down off the coast of the United States. The mission is part of the American lunar program, one of the objectives of which is to build a research base on the moon by the end of this decade. Artemis I also tested the giant Space Launch System rocket, which is currently the most powerful launch vehicle in the world.

Orion's next maneuver is scheduled for November 25th.thanks to which the ship will enter a distant orbit around the moon, where it will remain until December 1. After that, Orion will turn on the main engine again to bring the ship out of orbit and direct it towards the Earth. The reentry phase followed by a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is scheduled to take place on 11 December. This completes the Artemis I mission. If it is considered successful, then as part of the Artemis II mission in 2024, a crew of astronauts will go flying around the moon on the Orion spacecraft.

Source: 3DNews