The Orion spacecraft has begun one of its most anticipated milestones to set the rest of the mission on track for a rendezvous with the moon: the translunar injection burn.
The translunar injection burn is critical for increasing Orion’s velocity, allowing the spacecraft to leave behind a circular orbit of Earth and transfer to an oval-shaped orbit that will help it reach the moon.
During the burn, Orion’s service module, which provides the spacecraft with power, propulsion and thermal control, will give the capsule a big push to embark on a four-day trip around the moon before completing a figure eight to return to Earth.
The burn will last for five minutes and 50 seconds, with Orion being just 115 miles above Earth, according to NASA.
Humans last left Earth orbit in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. And for NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, it will mark the first time a Black astronaut, a woman astronaut and a Canadian astronaut have ventured to the vicinity of the moon.
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