Cape Canaveral: NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon on Monday, passing 128 kilometers from the lunar surface on its historic space flight.
The close approach occurred when the crew capsule and its three test dummies were on the far side of the moon. Because of the half-hour communication blackout, flight controllers in Houston did not know whether the critical engine ignition went well until the capsule emerged from behind the Moon, more than 375,000 kilometers from the land
NASA’s Orion spacecraft approaches the moon. Credit: NASA via AP
It’s the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA’s Apollo program 50 years ago, and it represented a major milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday. Orion’s flight path took it over the landing sites of Apollo 11, 12, and 14—mankind’s first three lunar landings.
The moon was seen growing larger in video as it returned to Earth as the capsule closed in on the final thousands of miles since leaving the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 16.
“This is one of those days you’ve been thinking about and talking about for a long, long time,” said Flight Director Zeb Scoville.
As the capsule left behind the moon, the onboard cameras sent back an image of Earth: a blue dot surrounded by darkness.
The Earth, photographed from the Orion spacecraft. Credit: NASA via AP
Orion needed to launch itself around the moon to gain enough speed to enter the warped and exposed lunar orbit. If all goes well, another engine fire will put the capsule into that orbit on Friday.
Next weekend, Orion will break NASA’s distance record for a spacecraft designed for astronauts: nearly 400,000 kilometers from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970. And it will keep going, reaching a maximum distance from Earth next Monday close to 433,000 kilometers.