Artemis I capsule buzzes moon; last big step before lunar orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts.

"This is one of those days that you’ve been thinking about and talking about for a long, long time," flight director Zeb Scoville said. Orion needed to slingshot around the moon to pick up enough speed to enter the sweeping, lopsided lunar orbit. Flight controllers evaluated the data pouring back, to determine if the engine firing went as planned. Another firing will place the capsule in that elongated orbit Friday.This coming weekend, Orion will shatter NASA’s distance record for a spacecraft designed for astronauts — nearly 250,000 miles from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

Orion has no lunar lander; a touchdown won't come until NASA astronauts attempt a lunar landing in 2025 with SpaceX's Starship. Before then, astronauts will strap into Orion for a ride around the moon as early as 2024.

Yep, Carl Sagan has quite the brilliant piece about that Pale Blue Dot.

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