With the mission, NASA wants to bring people back to the moon. To the delight of the US space agency, the first test flight to the moon is proceeding according to plan.
About a week after launch, the “Orion” capsule of NASA’s “Artemis 1” moon mission came very close to its goal for the first time. On the way to its orbit around the moon, the capsule flew past the moon at a distance of around 130 kilometers on Monday, the US space agency NASA said. She will not get any closer to the moon during the rest of her flight.
“The mission is proceeding as planned,” said NASA manager Mike Sarafin at a press conference a few hours later. The unmanned capsule is said to be on the road for around three weeks before it is expected to return to earth.
The “Artemis 1” mission started last week for a first test launch after months of postponement. The “Orion” capsule was launched with the “Space Launch System” rocket from the Cape Canaveral cosmodrome in the US state of Florida. The mission has not been under a lucky star so far: after delays and exploding costs in development and construction, the start of the test had to be postponed several times.
With the “Artemis” program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, US astronauts are supposed to land on the moon again in the coming years, including a woman and a non-white person for the first time.
