After approaching the moon, the Orion capsule begins its return to Earth

 NASA's Orion space capsule flew over the moon, less than 130 km from its surface, on Monday, in a remarkable maneuver that marks the beginning of the journey back to Earth for this first mission within the "Artemis" program. By making this close flyby, the spacecraft took advantage of the moon's gravitational pull to propel itself on its return trajectory.

Communication with the capsule was lost for 30 minutes as it passed behind the dark side of the moon. The thrust of the European-made service unit main engine, which is essential for propelling the capsule, lasted just over 3 minutes. "We couldn't be happier with the vehicle's performance. After restoring communication, we had to just stop and watch, and say to ourselves: Oh my God, we are saying goodbye to the moon," said Debbie Kurth, the assistant official of the Orion capsule. .

It was the last major maneuver for the mission, which began with the launch of NASA's new massive rocket, on November 16, for a journey that is supposed to last 25 and a half days in total. From now on, Orion will be satisfied with minor corrections on the track, until it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the American city of San Diego, next Sunday at 17:40 GMT.

Its descent will be slowed by 11 parachutes, after which it will be retrieved and transported aboard a US Navy ship. During the mission, Orion spent about 6 days in a distant orbit around the moon. A week ago, it broke the record for the distance traveled by a habitable capsule, as it moved more than 432,000 km from our planet, farther than the Apollo missions.

The mission aims to "verify that this new vehicle is safe to transport future crews to the moon in the coming years." This event marked the great launch of the "Artemis" program, which aims to send the first woman and the first person of color to the moon. The program aims to establish a permanent human presence on the moon in preparation for heading to Mars.