6.12.2022 15:36 (act. 6.12.2022 20:52)
©NASA via AP
A few days before the planned landing, NASA’s “Artemis 1” mission once again flew close to the moon.
The unmanned capsule “Orion” passed by the moon at a distance of about 130 kilometers on Monday, as announced by the US space agency. This was the capsule’s last major maneuver on its test mission before landing in the Pacific on December 11.
Quest “Artemis 1”
“Orion” had already passed the moon at a similar distance in November. The capsule had already spent about a week in orbit around the moon. “Orion” flew around the moon in one direction – opposite to that in which the moon orbits the Earth. According to NASA, this orbit had the advantage of being very stable and “Orion” using comparatively little fuel in it.
u0022Orionu0022 capsule near the moon again
The “Artemis 1” mission left for a first test launch on November 16 (local time), after months of delay. The “Orion” capsule was launched with the “Space Launch System” rocket from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome, in the US state of Florida. With the “Artemis” program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, American astronauts are expected to land on the moon again in the coming years, including for the first time a woman and a person of color.