Artemis 1: NASA moon fly-by a 'gamechanger'

NASA's Orion space capsule has completed a close fly-by of the moon, as part of the Artemis I space mission.

Artemis I launched last week, the first flight in a programme that aims to return humans to the moon and establish a lunar base.

The Orion spacecraft includes a new module designed for humans to live in.

During the Artemis I flight, Orion will travel 450,000 kilometres from Earth and 64,000 kilometres beyond the moon.

Early this morning, the spacecraft passed the moon, only about 130km above the surface and travelling about 8210 km/h.

It briefly lost signal with earth during the fly-by – which NASA said was expected.

A spacecraft designed to carry humans hasn't come this close to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, the final mission in the Apollo programme.

NASA flight director Zebulon Scoville described the fly-by as a "gamechanger".

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World

November 17, 2022

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"This is one of those days you have been thinking about for a long, long time."

NASA will host a press conference later this morning to provide analysis of the flight so far.