NASA’s Orion spacecraft makes close flyby of the Moon and heads on to orbit

NASA's Orion capsule snaps a selfie, with the far side of the Moon in the background. | Image: NASA

NASA's Orion spacecraft has made it past the Moon as part of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, firing its engines to pass within 81 miles of the lunar surface, and is operating with high accuracy.

The spacecraft performed an outbound powered flyby burn yesterday, Monday, November 21st, completing its closest flyby. The engines all worked perfectly," said Judd Frieling, a flight director at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in a press conference. With three trajectory correction burns performed, the spacecraft has now fired all three of its thruster types: its large orbital maneuvering system engine, small reaction control system thrusters, and medium-sized auxiliary engines.

Now Orion is traveling onward to its next target, a distant...

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