The Artemis 2 mission crew successfully captured a groundbreaking image of Earth rising above the Moon’s far side. They navigated around the hidden hemisphere of the Moon, a region unseen from Earth, unveiling new sights such as craters and lava plains.
Commander Reid Wiseman expressed their awe at witnessing unprecedented views, surpassing even the Apollo missions. President Donald Trump commended the team, emphasizing their historic achievement that made America proud.
During the approach to the Moon, the crew diligently executed tasks, including taking photos with digital cameras, creating sketches, and providing audio descriptions of their observations. They briefly lost contact with Earth for 40 minutes as they orbited behind the Moon.
Setting a new milestone, the spacecraft traveled the farthest distance from Earth at approximately 13:56 EDT on Monday, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. Astronaut Jeremey Hansen paid tribute to past space explorers and requested naming two observed craters after the mission and Wiseman’s late wife.
The astronauts are now journeying back to Earth after completing the historic fly-by and observation phase, scheduled for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near California on April 10.
