The four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission are preparing for a historic lunar flyby Monday that will send humans farther from Earth than any crew in history.
The four astronauts aboard NASA ’s Artemis II mission are preparing for a historic lunar flyby Monday that will send humans farther from Earth than any crew in history. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are continuing their workday inside the Orion spacecraft as they finalize preparations for the mission’s closely watched flyby of the moon.
The crew is conducting a demonstration of Orion’s crew survival system spacesuit and reviewing final science objectives before performing the last outbound trajectory correction burn ahead of the lunar encounter.Mission controllers say Orion entered the moon’s sphere of gravitational influence around 12:41 a.m. EDT Monday, beginning a carefully orchestrated sequence of events that highlights the complex gravitational dance between Earth and its natural satellite.A 'Beautiful Dance' Between Earth and moonAccording to Artemis II Entry Flight Director Rick Henfling, the spacecraft’s trajectory was designed to intercept the moon before gravity takes over.“All right, I’ll take a swing at the orbital mechanics here,” Henfling said. “The translunar injection burn essentially raised our apogee — the height of our orbit above Earth — to a point where we targeted such that the moon, as it orbits Earth, we kind of intercept the moon.”Once Orion reaches that point, he explained, the spacecraft transitions from Earth’s gravitational influence to the moon’s before eventually falling back toward Earth.“We allow the moon’s gravity to take over,” Henfling said. “Because we’re not entering into lunar orbit, we pass apogee relative to Earth and we start falling back to Earth. Eventually, the Earth’s gravity is going to take over and bring the spacecraft back into the atmosphere.”NASA officials say the process illustrates the delicate balance between two massive gravitational forces guiding the spacecraft’s path.W2lmcmFtZSBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vaGVhcnN0dGVsZXZpc2lvbmRhdGFqb3VybmFsaXNtLmh0dmFwcHMuY29tL21vb24tZGlzdGFuY2UvaW5kZXguaHRtbCIgc2Nyb2xsaW5nPSJ5ZXMiIGZyYW1lYm9yZGVyPSIwIiBzdHlsZT0ibWluLXdpZHRoOiAxMDAlICFpbXBvcnRhbnQ7IGJvcmRlcjogbm9uZTsgaGVpZ2h0OjUwMHB4OyIgXVsvaWZyYW1lXQ==“You know we’re out at some distance and so when it starts to pull on us, we go into a circular arc around the moon,” said Lori Glaze, deputy associate administrator, NASA Exploration Systems Development. “That kind of slingshots us around, but then it overshoots and comes back. By the time you might go somewhere else, we’re now pulled into Earth’s gravity again.”“It’s the interplay of those two gravity fields that really drive this beautiful dance of the spacecraft,” she added.Observing Ancient Lunar CratersMission control sent the astronauts their final list of science targets early Sunday. The crew will photograph and observe 30 features across the lunar surface during the flyby.Among the most significant targets is the massive Orientale basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater located along the boundary between the moon’s near and far sides. Formed roughly 3.8 billion years ago by a large impact, the basin still preserves dramatic rings and geological features created by the collision.Video above: Passengers on flight watch Artemis II launch from FloridaAstronauts will study the crater from multiple angles as Orion approaches.Another key target is the Hertzsprung basin, a nearly 400-mile-wide crater on the moon’s far side. Unlike Orientale, Hertzsprung’s structure has been heavily eroded by later impacts, providing scientists with a valuable comparison of how lunar features evolve over billions of years.Breaking a 55-Year-Old RecordDuring the flyby, the Artemis II crew is expected to surpass the distance record set by the astronauts of Apollo 13.At 1:56 p.m. EDT Monday, Orion will exceed the previous mark of 248,655 miles from Earth. The spacecraft is projected to reach its maximum distance at 7:07 p.m., roughly 252,760 miles from Earth.NASA also expects the crew to capture thousands of photographs of the moon and Earth during the flyby.Key Moments of the FlybySeveral milestones are planned throughout Monday’s encounter: 12:41 a.m. – Orion enters the moon’s gravitational sphere of influence. 1:56 p.m. – Artemis II surpasses the farthest-distance record set by Apollo 13. 2:45 p.m. – Lunar observations begin. 6:44 p.m. – Communications blackout begins as Orion passes behind the moon. 7:02 p.m. – Closest approach: about 4,070 miles above the lunar surface. 7:07 p.m. – Maximum distance from Earth reached. 7:25 p.m. – “Earthrise” appears as Orion emerges from behind the moon and communications resume. 8:35–9:32 p.m. – Crew observes a solar eclipse as the moon blocks the Sun. 9:20 p.m. – Lunar observations conclude.The communications blackout, expected to last about 40 minutes, will occur when the moon blocks radio signals between Orion and Earth’s Deep Space Network. Similar communication gaps occurred during Apollo missions and the uncrewed Artemis I.Once Orion reemerges from behind the moon, engineers expect to quickly reacquire the signal and resume communications with the astronauts.The Artemis II mission is the first crewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program and marks a major step toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade.
Artemis Today Moon Mission Flyby Today Moon Earth Orion P.M. Orion Spacecraft Nasa Artemis Ii Crew Crew Astronaut Gravity Flyby Mile Gravitational Influence Crater Historic Lunar Flyby Lunar Surface
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