A NASA spacecraft has reached the moon for the first time in 50 years

Author:
Oleg Panfilovych
Date:

NASAʼs Orion space capsule reached the Moon for the first time in 50 years.

Sky News writes about it.

The ship flew around the moon and passed by it at a distance of 128 km. As a result, flight controllers in Houston lost contact with it for half an hour, meaning they didnʼt know whether the critical engine had successfully fired until the capsule had passed the moon and the on-board cameras sent images back to Earth.

After reaching the Moon, the capsule started its main engine, which should take it into lunar orbit in four days. Orion will spend about a week in lunar orbit before heading home and is scheduled to land in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.