A rocket carrying the tiny CAPSTONE module
successfully launched from New Zealand’s eastern Mahia Peninsula to a deafening
blast and a wash of fiery propulsion.
“We have liftoff!” NASA said in a statement
shortly after the 09:55 GMT launch, described by Bradley Smith, NASA’s director
of launch services, as “absolutely fantastic.”
“This incredible team has just sent
CAPSTONE on a ballistic trajectory to the lunar orbit,” he said.
All being well, in four months CAPSTONE
will be in a position to begin innovative surfboard-shaped “near rectilinear
halo orbits” around the Moon.
Weighing about as much as a suitcase, the
satellite is trial-running an orbit for NASA’s “Gateway” space station — which
will travel around the Moon and serve as a jumping off point for lunar
exploration.
The orbit passes within 1,000 miles (1,600
kilometres) of the Moon at its closest point, before catapulting to 43,500
miles (70,000 kilometres) away at the furthest.
Scientists hope the orbit will be
super-efficient, using the pull of both the Moon and the Earth to minimise fuel
use.
As part of the same project, the United
States eventually plans to put the first woman and first person of colour on
the Moon.
NASA also plans to build a moonbase, and
use the experience as a stepping stone to a crewed flight to Mars.
The orbit passes within 1,000 miles (1,600
kilometres) of the Moon at its closest point, before catapulting to 43,500
miles (70,000 kilometres) away at the furthest.
Scientists hope the orbit will be
super-efficient, using the pull of both the Moon and the Earth to minimise fuel
use.
As part of the same project, the United
States eventually plans to put the first woman and first person of colour on
the Moon.
NASA also plans to build a moonbase, and
use the experience as a stepping stone to a crewed flight to Mars.
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