"It's like a game of billiards around the solar system, flying by a couple of planets at just the right angle and timing to build up the energy we need to get to Jupiter and Europa."

Lunar Trailblazer, an orbiter that shared a launch on Wednesday with the commercial Athena lander, will help scientists understand where the moon’s water is, and what form it takes.

NASA will send Intuitive Machines lunar lander atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center. You can livestream on iPhone, Android, YouTube

If federal employees want to space out from their jobs,’ Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told The Post, ‘they need to refund the American people for every last penny.’

NASA is a methodical institution that plans its missions years or even decades in advance, enjoys a famously loyal workforce and carries out its tasks with the kind of precision required to hurl humans into orbit, drive rovers on Mars or build telescopes that can see nearly to the dawn of time.

A new mission designed to better understand the heliosphere will be the first to map in three dimensions how the solar corona becomes the solar wind.

Intuitive Machines second NASA-backed lunar lander mission will deliver scientific instruments to hunt for water under the moon's surface.

NASA had cut a deal that may stave off sweeping layoffs seen across other federal agencies, but still will see about 900 fewer employees through a buyout plan, according to an agency statement.

The aerospace giant's loss may be other companies' gain, with SpaceX and Blue Origin among the prime potential beneficiaries.