NASA’s grand plan to return humans to the moon for the first time in more than half a century has taken another step forward. The 55-pound CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) cubesat has broken free from Earth orbit and is on its way to the Moon.
Rocket Lab launched the CAPSTONE on an Electron rocket from New Zealand last week. After six days of orbit-raising burns to build up enough speed, the wayfinding satellite headed for the moon. However, it is a relatively slow journey. CAPSTONE will not reach the Moon until November.
NASA will attempt to place CAPSTONE in a nearly rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon, a feat never attempted before. The agency plans to use the same orbit for the Gateway space station, which will provide support for long-duration lunar missions under the Artemis program. The outpost will have living quarters for astronauts and a laboratory. That mission won’t launch until at least 2024.
Meanwhile, it emerged last week that NASA has targeted a launch window between August 23 and September 6 for the Artemis 1 mission. It will send an unmanned module around the moon to assess how the journey might affect the human body. The agency conducted a successful wet refueling test for Artemis 1 in June.
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