Orion soars around the Moon with a lonely Earth in the distance

After executing one of the most demanding maneuvers of its 25-day mission, NASA's Orion craft flew to within 130 km of the Moon's surface on Monday.

Four "trajectory correction burns" have been conducted on the way to the Moon by the European Service Module. The service module's main engine was fired up for a short time. The system faced a stiff test on Monday as part of the maneuver. It flew with the colors.

The engine of the spaceship burned for 2 minutes and 30 seconds when it passed behind the moon. After reemerging from the lunar shadow, the spaceship was in a position to reach a distant retrograde around the Moon.

The name "Orion" comes from the fact that the moon will be far away from the Earth at times, and that the moon will be retrograde. Engineers will be able to spend more time testing systems such as guidance, navigation, communication, and power in deep space as a result of NASA's selection of this circle. The activities will push the limits of the vehicle before astronauts fly on it.

The second burn of the main engine will take place on Friday, November 25. The craft is going to make a splash in the ocean.

The flight is going well with the exception of two issues. Several faults in the random access memory are being assessed by a team of engineers to see if they can be fixed by cycling power to the system. One of the eight units located in the service module is being analyzed by a second team. The power conditioning and distribution unit has been open many times without a command. There have been no mission impacts since it was closed.

On Monday, NASA officials will hold a teleconference with reporters to discuss the issues. The damage to the launch tower that supports the Space Launch System rocket will be asked by these officials.

According to several sources, the damage to this $1 billion structure was far greater than anticipated. NASA hasn't said how much the damage is.