Orion back toward Earth for a high-speed

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Looking ahead, the Orion must execute another critical engine firing Friday to actually enter the planned distant retrograde orbit, then carry out a third burn December 1 to break away from that trajectory. A fourth engine firing December 5 is needed to set up another close lunar flyby.

That burn, the "return powered flyby" maneuver, will slingshot reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of San Diego on December 11.

Asked how he felt about the mission given its smooth, relatively problem-free start, Sarafin said "we are on flight day six of a 26-day mission, so I would give it a cautiously optimistic A-plus." But he quickly added, "we're taking it very seriously. I will rest well on December 11, after splashdown and recovery is complete."

Last week, NASA launched its long-awaited Artemis 1 flight, the first buy phone number list of several missions to establish a human presence on and around the moon. But even though it's just the beginning of this long mission, one official says major steps could be seen sooner rather quickly.

Howard Hu, the program manager for the Orion spacecraft onboard the Artemis 1 flight, told the BBC that the agency plans to have humans living on the moon sooner rather than later.

"Certainly in this decade, we're going to have people living [on the moon]," he told the BBC. "The durations, you know, depending on how long we'll be on the surface. They'll be living, they'll have habitats and they'll have rovers on the ground. ... So, not only are we able to work in delivering people to the moon, getting people down to the surface of the moon, they still have to have infrastructure."

But ultimately, he added, "it's more than living – it's really about science."