NASA manages to put the Orion space capsule into lunar orbit, eclipsing the distance of Apollo 13

HOUSTON (CBS SF) — NASA engineers can exhale now.

Mission controllers with the Artemis program have just completed a critical maneuver to launch the Orion space capsule into a record-breaking lunar orbit. It will now eclipse Apollo 13 and become the most distant human-capable craft ever launched from Earth.

“The goal here is to test techniques and procedures — and the spacecraft — that NASA intends to use to resume human exploration of the moon,” said CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood. “They want to operate it in deep space so they can really put it through the wringer.”

Only in this case there are no people on board. That will come later.

“The main key here is to have a successful mission so we can start looking forward to the possibility of flying astronauts to the moon,” said NASA’s Jacob Bleacher.

As for when that might happen? NASA is optimistic it will be faster than you might think.

“The end of 2025 is what we’re aiming for for Artemis-3 to land our astronauts on the moon,” says Bleacher, who added that he sees that target date as “likely.”

ARTEMIS LEFT:

Brian Hackney

Brian Hackney has won 18 Emmy awards for everything from best news anchor to best documentary to best news reporting to best weather anchor to best writing, a set of skills the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences characterized as “an unprecedented show of versatility.”