WORLD NEWS | NASA’s Orion capsule enters distant lunar orbit

CAPE CANAVERAL, Nov. 26 (AP) — NASA’s Orion capsule has entered an orbit that stretches tens of thousands of miles around the moon as it nears the halfway point of its test flight.

The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit just over a week after launching a $4 billion demo designed to pave the way for astronauts. It will remain in this wide but steady orbit for almost a week, completing only half a lap before heading home.

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As of Friday’s engine ignition, the capsule was 238,000 miles (380,000 kilometers) from Earth. It is expected to reach a maximum distance of nearly 270,000 miles (432,000 kilometers) within a few days. That would set a new distance record for a capsule designed to carry people for a day.

“It’s a statistic, but what it represents is symbolic,” Orion manager Jim Geffre said in an interview with NASA earlier this week. “It’s about challenging ourselves to go further, stay longer, and go beyond the limits of what we’ve explored before.”

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NASA sees this as a dress rehearsal for flying over the moon with astronauts in 2024. Astronauts could land on the moon as early as 2025. Astronauts last walked on the moon 50 years ago during Apollo 17.

Earlier this week, mission control in Houston lost contact with the capsule for nearly an hour. At the time, controllers were adjusting a communications link between Orion and the Deep Space Network. Officials say the spacecraft remains healthy. (Associated Press)

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