Save the Date for Live Launch Coverage of NASA's CAPSTONE Mission to the Moon!

CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) is a new small satellite that will explore a unique orbit around the Moon, and blaze a trail for future lunar exploration. CAPSTONE will test a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon and lead the way for our future Artemis lunar space station, called Gateway.

CAPSTONE is scheduled to launch on June 28 at 5:55 a.m. EDT (9:55 UTC) on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Watch live June 28 at 5 a.m. EDT (9 UTC) on NASA TV and on NASA social media. Live broadcast: https://youtu.be/JGx400xCDVY

Like Gateway, CAPSTONE continues the tradition of commercial partnerships, including American small businesses. The spacecraft was built and tested by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., a Terran Orbital Corporation in Irvine, California, operated by Advanced Space, and will be launched by Rocket Lab of Long Beach, California.

Credit: NASA