NASA Ends Its CAPSTONE Missions, But the Spacecraft Flies On

NASA Ends Its CAPSTONE Missions, But the Spacecraft Flies On The experimental craft successfully tested a near-rectilinear halo orbit between Earth and Moon gravities for future missions. At a Glance - CAPSTONE became the first spacecraft to successfully fly in a near-rectilinear halo orbit. - The mission validated navigation technology and software for future lunar missions. - Advanced Space will operate future CAPSTONE missions. An experimental spacecraft launched in June 2022 set out in a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) balanced between the gravities of Earth and the Moon. NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology and Navigational Experiment, known as CAPSTONE, was the first to travel in such an orbit, and it has since “validated a dynamic orbit around the Moon to pave the way for a lunar space station or other orbital operations,” Luke Idziak, spacecraft systems project manager for Astrion, told Design News at Space Tech Expo. Part of CAPSTONE's job was to validate software and navigation technology for future missions, and according to NASA, the spacecraft met all primary and extended mission objectives. NASA therefore wrapped up its work on CAPSTONE in June, but the craft will continue in orbit to provide risk reduction and demonstration for future missions, according to the space agency. Its orbit could help identify a future path for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost in NASA’s Artemis program. Astrion employees have been working at NASA Ames Research Center to support the programmatic and oversight tasks of the STMD Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems office at Ames and help to allow missions like CAPSTONE to be possible, Idziak tells Design News. “Astrion employees are integral to supporting most of the spaceflight missions developed at NASA Ames and work side by side with our civil servant partners on ensuring successful spacecraft integration, launch, and operation,” he says. CAPSTONE’s achievements were highlighted at Space Tech Expo. The spacecraft completed its original mission in 2023, achieving the following: First successful spacecraft insertion into an NRHO. Verified characteristics of a cislunar NRHO for future spacecraft. Characterized cislunar communications behavior for small spacecraft. Provided operational experience for autonomy, fault management, and recovery. Validated small-satellite propulsion, altitude determination and control, and system reliability in deep space. Established a foundation for commercial support of future lunar operations. Its expanded mission completed in May 2026 demonstrated: Use of a software-defined satellite with modular software architecture that enhances CAPSTONE’s ability to serve as a testbed for other software demonstrations. Enables new experiments without launching new missions. Real-time image processing of the Moon, Earth, and other bodies as well as one- and two-way ranging from NASA’s Deep Space Network stations. Autonomous onboard maneuver planning for maintenance of CAPSTONE’s orbit in the NRHO. Delayed tolerant networking for real-time file upload/download to/from CAPSTONE NASA highlighted CAPSTONE's achievements at Space Tech Expo 2026. DAPHNE ALLEN/DESIGN NEWS/INFORMA Having achieved these goals, CAPSTONE “will stay in space with any future operations passing from NASA to the operator company Advanced Space,” Idziak says. Astrion employees continue to work at NASA Ames on numerous other projects and flight missions, he adds.