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Rocket Lab Launches NASA Capstone Mission to Unique Lunar Orbit

By Rachel Jewett

Tuesday, June 28th, 2022

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Rocket Lab Launches NASA Capstone Mission to Unique Lunar Orbit

Photon Lunar spacecraft bus being prepared for NASA’s CAPSTONE mission. Photo: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab launched the CAPSTONE mission for NASA early Tuesday morning, sending the spacecraft on a journey to a unique lunar orbit. CAPSTONE — Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment — is part of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the Moon. The spacecraft is heading toward the orbit intended for the future lunar space station, Gateway. A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched the mission at 5:55 a.m. EDT (09:55 UTC) on Tuesday from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Tyvak…

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