NASA's CAPSTONE CubeSat: A Key Pathfinder for the Gateway and the Moon

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to orbit the Moon in a new way? That's what CAPSTONE, a small satellite mission by NASA, is going to do. CAPSTONE stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, and it will be the first spacecraft to fly a unique orbit around the Moon called the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). This orbit will allow CAPSTONE to fly close to the lunar poles and far from the lunar equator, which is ideal for the Gateway, a future lunar outpost that will support human missions to the Moon and beyond. In this video, you will learn more about CAPSTONE, how it was built and tested by multiple partner businesses with support from NASA's small business programs, and how it will help launch a new era of deep space exploration.