NASA's new spaceship just swooped by the moon and snapped wild views

The moon is being explored by NASA.

It's a critical part of the space agency's Artemis I mission, which involves the first test of the Orion capsule that will be used to land astronauts on the moon. NASA's Space Launch System blasted the uncrewed Orion into space last week.

The images from the spaceship were beamed back by NASA as it flew above the moon. During the fly-by, the space agency was able to see a distant view of our planet. It will travel over 40,000 miles beyond the moon in the coming week, breaking the previous record for a spaceship built for passengers.

"Completion!" "@NASA_Orion completed its closest fly-by of the Moon this morning, 81 miles above the lunar surface, traveling 5,102 mph."

As it approached the moon, an image was taken from the other side. There is a view of Earth from a distance.

NASA's Orion spacecraft approaching the moon on Nov. 21, 2022. Credit: NASA

Hello, Earth. The Orion spacecraft snapped this image from an orbit around the moon. Credit: NASA

During the flight over the moon, NASA fired its engines for two and a half minutes to increase the speed of the craft. It was necessary to help guide it to a special location.

Federal investment in the Artemis mission is over $4 billion per launch. Why does NASA spend so much to go back to the moon? The U.S. wants to establish a base on the lunar South Pole so that NASA can harvest water ice and potentially ingredients for fuels in the future. It will be important for the space agency to learn how to survive on the moon in order to be able to go to Mars.

The spaceship needs to complete its journey around the moon and survive the hot weather. During this test, NASA will make sure that it plummets through Earth's atmosphere at a rate of 24,500 miles per hour.

The mannequins are strapped to the seats. The seats are likely to be occupied by astronauts in the future.