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[b]CAPSTONE is at the Moon![/b] The big day has come and CAPSTONE is at the Moon! CAPSTONE made its initial insertion into the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) a couple hours ago. Two smaller correction maneuvers will take place this week to ensure the spacecraft is confirmed into the complex lunar orbit. CAPSTONE is the first CubeSat to fly to and operate at the Moon. The leadup to the NRHO insertion maneuver (NIM) was quite busy behind the scenes. Here is the play-by-play action of some of the what the CAPSTONE Mission Team (as designed/planned) in the hours leading up to the insertion looked like today: [list][*]4:23pm MT: The radio ceased transmissions and oriented the solar panels at the Sun to top the batteries off. [*]5:08pm MT: The spacecraft slewed to the burn attitude and let the fuel settle in the tank. [*]5:22:27 MT: The spacecraft began execution of the NRHO Insertion Maneuver (NIM). It thrusted at about 0.44 Newtons (equivalent of the weight of about 9 pieces of 8.5x11in paper in your hand!!). [*]5:34:22 MT: NIM as designed was complete. It lasts just under 16 minutes [*]5:34:28 MT: Spacecraft slews to Sun-Point to recharge batteries. [*]5:39:09 MT: NIM burn officially ends. [*]6:00 MT: Initial data received and insertion into the orbit was executed as planned[/list] We are grateful to the CAPSTONE Mission Team, NASA's DSN, Terran Orbital, Stellar Exploration and our team at Advanced Space. The 24/7 shifts have begun and are ready to get through this week's Insertion Maneuvers to make sure we are stable in the orbit. So far, so good. Today, we celebrate this big milestone.
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