The Orion spacecraft of the Artemis lunar mission, launched last week, reached the Moon. Apparatus
At the point of closest approach, Orion will flyat a distance of about 130 km from the surface of the moon. This gravitational maneuver will allow the spacecraft to gain the acceleration needed to fly to the far side of the satellite. According to NASA's plan, it must retire another 64,000 km. In this case, the total distance from the Earth will be over 450 thousand km. That's farther than a human-controlled ship has ever flown.
Previously, NASA published several selfies taken by cameras mounted on the ship's solar panels. Among them, a photo with the Earth in the background and a selfie in outer space.
Photos from the Orion spacecraft. Images: NASA
During the passage on the far side of the Moon, communication with the satellite will be lost for a while, but viewers will be able to follow the estimated position of the ship on a special site created by NASA.
Recall that the Artemis mission is an attempt by NASAreturn to the Moon after the completion of the Apollo project. If everything goes well during the current flight, in a year the American space agency plans to send a manned mission along the same route. And "Artemis-3" should be the first mission after a long break, which will land on the Earth's satellite.
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