NASA launches CAPSTONE mission to the moon.

• The NASA researchers successfully launched CAPSTONE spacecraft to the moon from New Zealand.
• The launch took place on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. Mission CAPSTONE stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment.
• With a price tag just shy of $30 million, NASA hopes the mission will verify that a specific type of moon orbit is suitable for the lunar Gateway space station that the agency aims to launch later this decade.

About the CAPSTONE:

• CAPSTONE is a microwave oven-sized spacecraft with the aim to study a specific type of moon orbit that will be suitable for the lunar Gateway space station that NASA aims to launch later this decade.
• The lunar Gateway space station will be a small space station for astronauts in orbits where they can stop before and after going to the moon’s surface.