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For the first time in over 50 years, astronauts have embarked on a historic voyage to the moon, setting a new milestone for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth. This significant moment is marked by the launch of the Artemis II mission, which took place last Thursday morning, Australian time.
The rocket, carrying the spacecraft with a team of four astronauts, includes NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. Their journey, which commenced at 8:35 a.m. AEDT, began at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
As this mission unfolds, the crew has already reached a notable point in their journey. Just over 24 hours after liftoff, they were nearing the moon, capturing striking images of their celestial destination. This visual documentation offers a glimpse into their expedition as they venture from liftoff to the far side of the moon.
The quartet started their 10-day journey at 8.35am AEDT from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Just over a day after launch the crew was approaching the moon and taking pictures of it.
The astronauts said they were “glued to the window” taking pictures, and later passed a floating microphone back and forth as they took questions from US television networks.
NASA later released images taken from inside the Orion spacecraft, including a full portrait of Earth’s deep blue oceans and billowing clouds.
On Monday at 9.07am (AEST), Artemis II travelled to the far side of the moon, and reached the furthest point from Earth on its journey.
For 40 minutes, the craft lost contact with Earth as planned.
While out of contact, NASA said the crew saw a part of the moon that had never before been seen by human eyes.
The agency has since released an image showing part of the moon’s Orientale Basin — a 965-kilometre-wide crater.
It had previously only been captured by robotic explorers.
The moon’s near side, which faces the Earth is in the top half, and the far side, with its distinctive target-shaped Orientale Basin, is visible in the bottom half.
In the final hour of their six-hour lunar flyby, the sun, the moon and the Orion capsule lined up for a solar eclipse.
For 53 minutes, the moon covered the astronauts’ view of the sun.
Speaking to mission control back on earth, one of the astronauts said the spectacle was “unreal”.
“After everything we saw earlier, this is just … we just went sci-fi.”
At the end of its seven-hour lunar flyby, the Orion capsule started its four-day trip back to Earth.
It’s scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday night local time (Saturday morning AEST).
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