BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — NASA’s Orion spacecraft completed its closest flyby of the moon earlier Monday, coming within just 81 miles of the lunar surface.
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Now, Orion is preparing to enter an elliptical orbit around the moon where its systems will be put to the test.
READ: NASA’s Artemis I rocket begins journey to moon after launching from Florida’s Space Coast
Later this week, teams plan to place Orion into a distant retrograde orbit that will take it 40,000 miles past the moon before its return to Earth, allowing teams to test out the spacecraft’s system.
The Artemis 1 mission is expected to conclude on Dec. 11, when Orion splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, but not before a major test of the spacecraft’s heat shield during re-entry.
READ: ‘We are going’: Artemis I successfully blasts off from Cape Canaveral
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