The close approach of 81 miles occurred as the crew capsule and its three wired-up dummies were on the far side of the moon. Astronauts will take Orion for a ride around the moon as early as 2024.
This screengrab from NASA TV shows NASA's Orion capsule, left, nearing the moon, right, on Monday. At center is Earth.
The close approach of 81 miles 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, 232,000 miles from Earth."Our pale blue dot and its 8 billion human inhabitants now coming into view," said Mission Control commentator Sandra Jones.
Earlier in the morning, the moon loomed ever larger in the video beamed back, as the capsule closed the final few thousand miles since blasting off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, atop the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA. The capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit, before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for Dec. 11.
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