UNITED STATES: The NASA Artemis spacecraft took off from Earth last week, and it has now successfully arrived on the moon.
The Orion spacecraft flew 130 kilometres (80 miles) above the lunar surface, and it will now start to enter a bigger orbit.
Orion was travelling at 5,023 mph (8083.73 KPH) and 328 miles above the Moon at the time of the burn.
It passed 81 miles above the Moon shortly after the burn while moving at 5,102 mph. Since the mission’s launch last week, NASA says it has “exceeded expectations” thus far.
Additionally, the aircraft transmitted pictures of Earth from a distance of 230,000 miles (370149.12 km), where it seemed like a “pale blue dot.”
NASA flight director Zebulon Scoville remarked that “this is one of those days that you’ve been wondering about and dreaming about for a long, long time.”
“We just saw the Earth set behind the moon this morning as we travelled around it in the next human-rated vehicle, while we prepare to send humans back to the moon in a few years.” “Everything is different now,” he continued.
Earlier on Saturday, NASA also published a collection of breath-taking Orion selfies, showcasing the human-rated spacecraft shimmering against the blackness of space.
It will mark the first successful flyby of the moon in fifty years for a spacecraft. Before passengers fly on a future trip, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft will be tested on the unmanned Artemis I mission.
There is still a tonne of work to be done before humans go back to the moon. A second test trip will carry four humans around the moon and back, possibly as early as 2024.
NASA plans to launch four more around a year later, with two of them landing on the lunar south pole.
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