NASA's Orion spacecraft made its closest flyby of the moon on Monday, about 130 kilometers above the lunar surface, according to the U.S. space agency.

Before the flyby, the mission team conducted an outbound powered flyby burn at 7:44 a.m. EST, increasing speed of the spacecraft at a rate of more than 928 kilometers per hour, according to NASA.

At the time of the flyby, Orion moved at a speed of 8,163 kilometers per hour and was over 368,000 kilometers away from Earth.

The outbound powered flyby burn is the first of two maneuvers required to enter the distant retrograde orbit around the moon, according to NASA.

Carrying an uncrewed Orion, NASA's Space Launch System lifted off for its flight test debut last Wednesday from Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on December 11 and splash down off the coast of San Diego, California.

The Artemis I flight test will pave the way for a crewed flight test and future human lunar exploration as part of NASA's Artemis lunar program.

(With input from Xinhua)