The Orion capsule is on its way to Earth, and on Monday it will tick off another milestone: it will briefly come just 127.4 km from the moon’s surface, closer than it was on the mission’s sixth day. Then, on November 21, it was found 130.3 km from the surface of the Moon.

Orion re-entered the Moon’s sphere of influence on December 3 and will leave it on December 6, when it will have five days before returning to Earth.

On December 4, at 18:43, “Orion” made another trajectory correction and slightly increased its speed.

The mission’s final major maneuver will take place on December 5 at 6:43 p.m., a maneuver that will change Orion’s speed by 1,000 km/h. After this maneuver, which will last 3 minutes and 27 seconds, there will be only minor trajectory corrections for the next few days.

On Monday, Orion will come within 128 km of the moon’s surface after several days of orbiting at tens of thousands of kilometers. The mission is almost 26 days long and we are on day 20.

NASA says there were minor technical problems with a system called the PCDU, but the problems did not affect Orion’s trajectory or the operation of any major capsule systems.

December 11 is the day of the return to Earth, and for NASA employees it will be emotional: the entry into the atmosphere will take place at a speed of almost 40 thousand km / h, and the heat shield will have to withstand 2700 C. High-performance parachutes must open to slow down the capsule’s fall as much as possible in ocean.