NASA's Artemis II crew fired a translunar injection burn, leaving Earth and setting course for a 10-day lunar flyby — the first crewed trip past the moon in more than half a century.
NASA's Artemis II astronauts fired their main engine Thursday and left Earth's orbit, putting the Orion capsule on course for a lunar flyby. Mission control in Houston confirmed it was a "good burn," sending the four-person crew toward the moon.
The burn came about 25 hours after the Space Launch System rocket launched the Orion capsule from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen told mission control he and his crewmates were riveted to the windows, describing a "beautiful view of the dark side of the Earth lit by the moon."
With the translunar injection complete, Orion will now coast largely under orbital mechanics for the remainder of the flight. The crew spent their first day testing cameras and steering systems. They also reported a minor toilet malfunction and email problems that were fixed.
The 10-day mission aims to carry humans farther from Earth than ever — about 252,000 miles — and will be the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The Orion team — Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — will pass roughly 4,000 miles beyond the moon before turning for home. Artemis II is the inaugural crewed flight of NASA's SLS rocket and is intended to test systems needed for a planned moon landing in 2028 and future missions to Mars. The broader Artemis program also includes milestones such as the first Black astronaut, the first woman and the first non-American to take part in a lunar mission.
Source: World | Deutsche Welle
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