Shaken, spun and baked - Nasa tests spacecraft ahead of lunar landing

Baked, frozen, spun and shook - a lunar lander has been put through a series of important tests ahead of its journey to the Moon.

The Griffin-1 spacecraft completed three months of environmental testing at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, in the US.

The tests imitated the extreme temperatures expected in space, as well as the intense shaking and loud sound of the launch.

Griffin-1 is expected to launch later this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

The tests of the 2,789-pound (1,265kg) spacecraft took place over three months.

In one test Griffin-1 was put on a special table which spun rapidly while hundreds of sensors monitored the spacecraft

Engineers looked for unexpected wobbles and they worked out how the spacecraft would move through space.

Acoustic testing was done with giant horns powered by nitrogen, blasting the spacecraft with up to 153 decibels inside a sealed chamber to mimic the roar of the launch.

In the final test, engineers used a crane to lift the spacecraft into a very tall thermal vacuum chamber.

There, Griffin-1 was baked at a very hot temperature of 167 degrees Fahrenheit (75 degrees Celsius) and frozen at temperatures as low as minus 148 F (minus 100 C).

The conditions in the chamber mimic the extreme temperatures the spacecraft would encounter on its mission.

After the test were completed Griffin-1 was shipped back across the country to Voyager Lunar Systems' Pittsburgh facility for final assembly.

Griffin-1 is expected to launch in late 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The lander will deliver more than 1,100 pounds (just under 500kg) of cargo from different countries to Nobile Crater near the lunar South Pole.