A satellite the size of a microwave oven has broken free from its orbit around Earth and is heading towards the moon. It is the latest step in Nasa’s plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface again.
It has been an unusual journey already for the Capstone satellite. It was launched six days ago from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula by the company Rocket Lab in one of its small Electron rockets. It will take another four months for the satellite to reach the moon, as it cruises along using minimal energy.
Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck said it was hard to put his excitement into words. “It’s probably going to take a while to sink in. It’s been a project that has taken us two, two-and-a-half years and is just incredibly, incredibly difficult to execute,” he said.
