NASA’s Artemis 1 Moon mission has left lunar orbit and is returning to Earth. At 16:53 ET on December 1, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for one minute and 45 seconds and placed it in an orbit that would allow it to pass near the moon’s surface in a slingshot maneuver to propel it home. .

The latest course correction came on day 16 of the Artemis 1 mission, designed to test the Orion spacecraft system in deep space before the astronauts are placed aboard for the next lunar mission in the series. The main engine fire changed the ship’s speed to approximately 310 mph (498 km/h).

A second ignition of Orion’s booster engines is scheduled at approximately 22:53 ET to fine-tune its orbit, according to NASA. Meanwhile, NASA engineers are thermally testing onboard star trackers used to calculate Orion’s position and orientation. This is important because viewers must withstand the extreme temperatures of deep space.

As of 5:30 pm ET, Artemis 1 is 237,600 miles (382,400 km) from Earth and 52,900 miles (85,100 km) from the Moon. On December 5, the Orion spacecraft will pass by the moon at 11:43 am ET when it comes within 79.2 miles (128 km) of the lunar surface. This will allow the spacecraft to land in the Pacific Ocean on December 11.