WATCH: NASA’s Orion capsule visited moon for the first time in 50 years yesterday

The Orion spacecraft visited the moon Monday, with NASA’s head of the programme saying it’s the next step in turning humans into extraterrestrial species.

Artemis and Orion:

The head of the programme, Howard Hu, said NASA’s Artemis mission is “the next step in the journey to make humans extraterrestrial species”.

NASA’s Orion capsule came with 131 kilometres of the lunar surface on Monday, making it the first time in more than 50 years that a spacecraft visits the moon.

ALSO WATCH: Artemis 1 blasts off to the Moon

More lunar missions planned

The space agency is planning two more Artemis missions in the coming years, with plans to put astronauts on the surface by 2026.

Hu, said humans could be living on the moon by 2030: “They will have habitats, they will have rovers on the ground”.

More than that, he said people will be sent “to the surface and they are going to be living on that surface and doing science”.

#Artemis I, Flight Day 5. Orion spacecraft takes a selfie while approaching the Moon ahead of the outbound powered flyby – a burn of Orion’s main engine on the @ESA service module. During this maneuver Orion came within 81 miles of the lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/93GkJ7Ubry

— Orion Spacecraft (@NASA_Orion) November 22, 2022

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First the moon, then Mars

Hu said the Artemis rockets and Orion capsules are the vehicles humanity will use for its first long-term deep space exploration missions.

There are also plans to construct a lunar gateway, essentially a space station orbiting the moon for NASA scientists to live and work.

The ultimate goal of Artemis and Orion will be “to learn what it will take to send humans to Mars”.

The moon mission can be tracked here.