NASA 'giddy' over amazing moon views from Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft - Space.com

NASA officials say Artemis 1 mission teams are "giddy" after witnessing how well their Orion spacecraft has been performing so far on its way towards lunar orbit.

16, blasting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in a spectacular display of the sheer power of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

The Orion spacecraft reached Earth orbit shortly after, and then at 87 minutes after launch performed a so-called Trans Lunar Injection burn to send it hurtling towards the moon.

On Monday (Nov. 21), Orion performed another burn to send the spacecraft close enough to the lunar surface to leverage the moon's gravity to pull the spacecraft around the moon into a distant retrograde lunar orbit. .

Judd Frieling, flight director at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said Orion mission team members are "giddy" with the current performance they are seeing from the spacecraft after the flyby, which saw the spacecraft come within 80 miles of the lunar surface.

Related: NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft aces close moon flyby in crucial engine burn.

 —  Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft sees the moon for 1st time in stunning video.

 —  NASA's daring Artemis 1 'Red Crew' saved the day for the launch to the moon.

 —  Artemis 1 launch success makes NASA's SLS the most powerful rocket ever to fly.

The briefing also discussed the launch of the Artemis 1 mission's Space Launch System rocket on Nov.

Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager at NASA headquarters, said the SLS rocket performed flawlessly during launch.

"The rocket performed and/or exceeded expectations." Sarafin added that the "kindler, gentler" fueling procedure that was performed for the successful third launch attempt also produced the results mission managers expected, circumventing some of the issues that plagued previous attempts.

The Artemis 1 mission sent Orion towards the moon on a 26-day journey that will see the spacecraft come within 80 miles of the lunar surface at its closest pass, and some 40,000 miles away at its farthest.

The mission is designed as a flight test of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and associated ground control systems ahead of the Artemis 2 and 3 missions currently planned for 2024 and 2025, respectively. .