The Orion space capsule on the Artemis 2 mission has passed halfway between the Earth and the Moon on its way to a planned lunar orbit, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Saturday. TASR informs about it according to the report of the AFP agency.
“We’re halfway there,” NASA claims in social media posts. The agency clarified that at the time of this post, the Artemis 2 mission is about halfway to the moon. “When the astronauts arrive, they will fly around the moon and make scientific observations of its surface,” he said. The US agency also released a photo it says shows the Orion space capsule with the moon in the distance, captured by a camera at the end of one of its solar panels.
According to NASA’s website, Orion is currently more than 219,000 kilometers from Earth. NASA successfully launched its Artemis 2 manned mission to the moon on Wednesday local time from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The aim of the Artemis 2 mission is to fly around the moon after the so-called free return path. The Orion ship will not reach its orbit, but will fly over the celestial body on the far side at an altitude of about 7,000 kilometers and, under the influence of gravity, will go on the return journey.
The crew members will have about three hours at their closest approach to observe the moon, while being out of touch with Earth for a period of time. The Artemis 2 mission is scheduled to end with a landing in the Pacific Ocean on April 10. NASA expects this test flight to launch the entire Artemis program and pave the way for two astronauts to land on the moon in 2028.
