Houston- Getting closer to the Landthe astronauts of the Artemis II They prepared their lunar cruise for their upcoming return and reflected on their historic journey around the Moondescribing it as surreal and profound.
As the penultimate day of their flight dawned Thursday, humanity’s first lunar explorers in more than half a century were less than 150,000 miles from home.
“We have to go back. There is a lot of data that has already been seen, but all the good things will come back to us. There are many more images, many more stories,” said pilot Victor Glover, adding that “riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound too.”
1/8 | Artemis II leaves the dark side of the Moon: photos from the ship. NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft regained contact with Earth this Monday after spending about 40 minutes in absolute silence while flying over the far side of the Moon, a common interruption in this type of mission. – The Associated Press
Being isolated from all of humanity for almost an hour while behind the Moon was especially “surreal,” according to Commander Reid Wiseman.
“Our brains have to process a lot of things … and it’s a real gift,” Wiseman said late Wednesday during the crew’s first news conference since before takeoff.
On Monday, while out of contact behind the Moon, Wiseman, Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen became the most distant humans in history, reaching a record distance of 252,756 miles from Earth before returning. Coming out from behind the Moon, they experienced a wonderful total solar eclipse, as the orb blocked the Sun from their perspective.
The launch from Florida on April 1 diminished the amount of illumination on the lunar far side, Glover noted, but the eclipse was the consolation prize “and it was one of the greatest gifts.”
Friday’s re-entry and splashdown in the Peaceful off the coast of San Diego, as dynamic and dangerous as the takeoff, were now at the forefront of everyone’s attention. The recovery ship, USS John P. Murtha, was already at sea, with a squadron of military planes and helicopters prepared to join the operation.
It is the first time that the POT and the Department of Defense come together for the re-entry of a lunar crew from Apollo 17 in 1972. The Orion capsule will return at full speed, impacting the atmosphere at a planned speed of 10,657 meters per second, or 38,367 km/h. It is not a record, but it is an amazing speed.
1 / 15 | Meet the crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission. One day (April 1, 2026) before the scheduled launch of the Artemis II mission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) finalized planning for its first manned mission to the Moon since 1972. – EFE Agency
Mission control will pay close attention to the strength of the capsule’s heat shield. During Orion’s only other test flight to the Moon – in 2022 without a crew – the heat shield suffered considerably more damage than expected from the 5,000-degree Fahrenheit reentry.
Instead of replacing Artemis II’s heat shield, which would have forced another long delay, NASA modified the capsule’s descent through the atmosphere to reduce exposure to the scorching heat. Starting next year, the Artemis III will fly with redesigned heat shields.
On Artemis III, astronauts will practice docking their capsule with one or two lunar landers in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV, in 2028, will attempt to land two astronauts near the Moon’s south pole, setting the stage for what NASA hopes will be a sustainable lunar base.
NASA officials have resisted providing their risk assessment figures for the nearly 10-day mission, acknowledging that launch and entry are the biggest threats.
“We are at the limit,” said NASA’s Lakiesha Hawkins. “We are reaching the end of the mission and obviously getting the crew back home and getting them to land safely is an important part of the risk that still lies ahead.”