NASA reported that the Artemis 2 mission’s Orion spacecraft left low Earth orbit and headed toward the moon.
At 19:49 EST (02:49 Moscow time), the crew turned on the main engine for 5 minutes and 50 seconds, and the Orion spacecraft successfully completed an acceleration maneuver to enter the path to the Moon.
After the maneuver that put Orion on a path toward the Moon, the NASA team began developing a plan to observe the lunar surface — a program that will guide the crew during a six-hour observing session on Monday, April 6.
On April 2, the American Orion spacecraft, carrying four astronauts, successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This is the first American manned mission to the Moon since 1972. As part of the mission, which will last 10 days, Orion will fly around the Moon and return. There are no plans to land astronauts on the moon. The main goal of the mission is to test Orion’s systems and ensure that they function properly in deep space environments.