The CAPSTONE mission launches on June 28, 2022 on the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, on the Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The CAPSTONE stands for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment.
The mission was launched at 5: 55 a.m. Eastern Day Time on Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand.
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CAPSTONE is currently in low-Earth orbit and will take about four months for the spacecraft to reach its target lunar orbit, according to NASA.
CAPSTONE is attached to Rocket Lab's Lunar Photon, an interplanetary third stage that sends CAPSTONE on its way to deep space.
Over the next six days, Photon's engine will periodically ignite to accelerate it beyond low-Earth orbit, where Photon will release the CubeSat on a ballistic lunar transfer trajectory to the Moon.
CAPSTONE will use its own propulsion and the Sun's gravity to navigate the rest of the way to the Moon, according to NASA.