Nasa capsule buzzes moon in last big step before lunar orbit
Cape Canaveral: Nasa’s Orion capsule has reached the moon, 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.
It’s the first time a capsule has visited the moon since Nasa’s Apollo programme 50 years ago, and represents a huge milestone in the Us$4.1bil (Rm18bil) test flight that began last Wednesday.
Video of the looming moon and our pale blue planet more than 370,000km in the distance on Monday left workers “giddy” at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control, according to flight director Judd Frieling.
“Just smiles across the board,” said Orion programme manager Howard Hu.
The close approach of 130km occurred as the crew capsule and its three wired-up dummies were on the far side of the moon.
Because of a half-hour communication blackout, flight controllers in Houston did not know if the critical engine firing went well until the capsule emerged from behind the moon.
The capsule’s cameras sent back a picture of Earth – a tiny blue dot surrounded by blackness.
The capsule accelerated well beyond 8,000 kph as it regained radio contact, Nasa said.
Less than an hour later, Orion soared above Tranquility Base, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on July 20, 1969.
This coming weekend, Orion will shatter Nasa’s distance record for a spacecraft designed for astronauts – nearly 400,000km from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
And it will keep going, reaching a maximum distance from Earth next Monday at nearly 433,000km.
The capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for Dec 11.