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CHICAGO (WLS) — This week marks a historic milestone as humans ventured to the moon for the first time since 1972. This mission took astronauts farther into space than ever before.
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Hunter Miller, an expert in public observation at the Adler Planetarium, shared insights into the significance of this unprecedented mission.
During their journey, four astronauts navigated around the moon’s far side and captured breathtaking images that captivated the world.
“They witnessed areas of the moon we’ve only seen through previous imaging, but never with the naked eye. The astronauts deliberately journeyed far enough to view the moon’s entire disc,” Miller elaborated.
“The moon appeared about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. There’s something extraordinary about seeing it with the human eye. While a camera can capture a perfect image, the human eye has the unique ability to notice anomalies and focus on new details, offering invaluable insights from their presence there,” Miller added.
Miller says one thing that surprised him about this mission was the crew’s mention of a higher number of meteor impacts than they were expecting.
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“These are bright flashes of light on the moon’s surface as little bits of rock from space interact with the moon,” he said.
While lunar landings are planned in the future, during this trip the astronauts did not walk on the moon and did not collect samples.
But they are bringing something back from their trip.
“I do think the most important thing they bring back with them is their experience. These astronauts are the first to fly aboard the Orion capsule. And so, their experience, their time on the spacecraft is a really important thing they bring back with them,” Miller said.
The second: the Orion Capsule.
“They will look at how it handled this flight, this very long and intense journey that it took and see how they can improve that capsule for future missions,” she said.
Artemis III, another test flight, is scheduled to blast off in 2027.
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