The Artemis II crew moved into the most anticipated stage of their lunar expedition on Sunday, April 5, preparing for a historic encounter with the moon’s far side, which no human has ever seen directly.
As the Orion spacecraft maintains its precise flight path, the four astronauts are set for a rare visual survey of the lunar landscape.
The journey began on April 1, when NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen launched from historic Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Riding the Space Launch System, NASA’s newest Moon rocket, the Orion spacecraft lifted off with 8.8 million pounds of thrust, escaping Earth’s gravity and entering low Earth orbit.
The crew’s ten-day mission aims to carry humans farther into deep space than anyone has ever gone, traveling an additional 6,600 kilometers beyond the distance reached by Apollo astronauts.
Following NASA’s schedule, on April 5, the crew spent time testing their equipment and gave their engines a small boost to ensure Orion stayed on the correct trajectory for the rest of the trip.
On Monday, April 6, the astronauts will witness a side of the moon never visible from Earth during a historic flyby. Orion will circle the moon’s far side, where sunlight will illuminate its hidden surface, including areas near both poles.
The crew will observe the lunar landscape with their own eyes and document it with onboard cameras for the world to see.
Passing around the dark side of the moon will set a new record for the farthest distance any human has traveled from Earth, surpassing the 24 Apollo astronauts who came before them.
“We’re all extremely excited for tomorrow. Our flight operations team and our science team are ready for the first lunar flyby in more than 50 years,” Lori Glaze, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission, said on April 5.
As Orion moves behind the moon, it will temporarily lose contact with Earth for about 40 minutes. This scheduled communication blackout occurs because the moon physically blocks radio signals from NASA’s Deep Space antennas.
“I think it’s important to remember that we don’t always know exactly what they’re going to see,” Kelsey Young, the mission’s lead scientist, said during a press conference.
Although the crew will not walk on the moon, their work is critical to testing the spacecraft’s ability to support humans for future deep-space exploration. This paves the way for the Artemis IV mission, which is scheduled to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.
Days into their journey, the Artemis II crew reached the moon’s “sphere of influence,” about 39,000 miles from the lunar surface, where the moon’s gravity becomes stronger than Earth’s.
At this stage, Orion is roughly 232,000 miles from home, and the moon’s pull now guides the spacecraft as the team moves closer to their target. Every passing second brings them nearer to the lunar surface, marking a major milestone in deep-space navigation.