[telescope115]

I’m no expert on orbital mechanics, but escape velocity from Earth is
25,000 mph. The lander was orbiting a smaller body- the Moon. How could the lander be traveling at 25,000 mph in orbit around the Moon and still be orbiting ?

[Chainmail]

"How could the lander be traveling at 25,000 mph in orbit around the Moon and still be orbiting "

Retro rockets.

[al baby]

Retro rockets ?????

[DoubleNickle]

The spacecraft conducted a 408 second burn of its main engine in order to slow down enough to enter a lunar orbit. More info here: https://spacenews.com/im-1-lander-enters-lunar-orbit/

[alexander_busek]

How could the lander be traveling at 25,000 mph in orbit around the Moon and still be orbiting ?

Stupid journalist compressed what should have been several sentences of explanation into a single clause.

Regards,

[Blood of Tyrants]

It wouldn’t, of course. The moon has a much weaker gravitational field and therefore orbital speed around the moon would be much slower.