The Orion capsule, launched on an SLS rocket on November 16, reached the moon and flew 130 km above the lunar surface, completing another stage of its 26-day mission. The capsule is due to return to Earth on December 11.

On Sunday evening, the Orion capsule entered the Moon’s sphere of influence, and the European Service Module’s engine was fired at 2:44 p.m. Monday for 150 seconds to place the capsule in an elongated orbit around the Moon (called a distant retrograde orbit—DRO). .

The capsule traveled more than 350,000 km and arrived just 130 km from the moon’s surface on Monday. The capsule also flew 2,000 km above Tranquility Base, the site where the first humans set foot on the moon in 1969. Over the next few days, Orion will orbit within a few tens of thousands of kilometers of the Moon’s surface.

On November 28th, an important symbolic moment will occur: Orion will reach the edge of the Moon at a distance of 483,000 km from Earth, the farthest point ever reached by a spacecraft capable of carrying people. The previous record belongs to the Apollo 13 mission (April 1970).

On December 1, the European Service Module will maneuver Orion out of DRO, and on December 5, the capsule will make another close flyby of the lunar surface.

The final power-up will put Orion on a trajectory toward Earth, a trip that will last nearly six days.

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.