A new project by the space agency aims to better understand these planets and characterize those that may harbor life.
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On Sunday the 11th, when the 'Orion' capsule lands in the Pacific, it will be exactly fifty years since the last manned mission to the satellite, 'Apollo 17', returned in December 1972.
As soon as the last stage of the rocket was shut down, ten small satellites were launched, all on a similar path to the Moon. Some failed, but most of them are still active, with various missions.
NASA's capsule manages to distance itself 430,000 kilometers from Earth on its journey to the Moon, much further than the legendary Apollo program in 1970.
The reconquest of the Moon is driving a new space race, which has been joined by both billionaires and fledgling countries.
Interest in the lunar south pole and the limitations of NASA's powerful SLS rocket require resorting to a more complex space maneuver.
The new program promoted by NASA and supported by the European Space Agency takes the first step toward beginning the reconquest of the Moon.
The collision of the 600-kilogram artifact with the space rock slowed it slightly and ejected tons of debris that now form a tail 10,000 kilometers long.
NASA's spacecraft, orbiting Jupiter since 2016, will take a close-up photograph of this world today, a candidate for life in its oceans.
The system formed by the two space rocks Didymus and Dimorphus moves like a clock and telescopes will be able to observe changes in the rhythm at which they orbit.