The Orion spacecraft is "exceeding performance expectations" three days after taking off from Florida heading for the Moon, NASA officials announced on Friday.

The spaceship will transport men to the Moon in future years, the first since the last Apollo mission in 1972. This first crewless test flight aims to ensure the vehicle's safety.

"Today we met to review the Orion spacecraft performance... it is exceeding performance expectations," said Mike Sarafin, head of the Artemis 1 mission. 

Orion is already 200,000 miles (320,000 kilometers) away from Earth, and is poised to conduct the first of four big thrusts slated for the mission.

We are going.

For the first time, the @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion fly together. #Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration. pic.twitter.com/vmC64Qgft9

— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022

This maneuver, which will take place early Monday morning, will get the spacecraft as close to the lunar surface as 80 miles (130 kilometers) in order to take advantage of the Moon's gravitational attraction.

A second blast from the engines will place Orion in a distant orbit around the Moon four days later.

The ship will travel 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, setting a new record for a habitable capsule.

After just over 25 days of flight, it will begin its trip back to Earth, with a landing in the Pacific Ocean set on December 11.

The success of this mission will determine the fate of the Artemis 2 mission, which will take astronauts around the Moon without landing, and the Artemis 3 mission, which will finally bring humans back to the lunar surface.

These missions are slated for 2024 and 2025, respectively.