Nasa’s Orion capsule enters moon orbit as test mission nears halfway point

The Earth as visible from the Orion capsule which is about 240,000 miles away (NASA via AP)

Nasa’s Orion capsule entered an orbit stretching tens of thousands of miles around the moon on Friday, as it neared the halfway mark of its test flight.

The capsule and its three test dummies entered lunar orbit more than a week after launching on the 4.0 billion US dollars (£330 billion) Artemis programme demo that is meant to pave the way for astronauts.