Nasa’s Orion Capsule Reaches Moon 1st Time after 50 Years

Nasa’s Orion capsule reached the moon, on Monday, passing within 80 miles of the surface on its way to a record-breaking lunar orbit.

The crew capsule and its three test dummies were on the far side of the moon. It is the first time a capsule has visited the moon since Nasa’s Apollo program 50 years ago.

“This is one of those days that you’ve been thinking about and talking about for a long, long time,” flight director Zeb Scoville said while waiting to resume contact.

This weekend, Orion is going to shatter Nasa’s distance record for a spacecraft designed for astronauts – nearly 250,000 miles from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970. It will keep going, reaching a maximum distance from Earth next Monday at nearly 270,000 miles.

Meanwhile, the capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit, before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for 11 December.