Artemis II crew head for home after travelling further fr...

What’s Happening

Breaking it down: The Artemis II crew go further than any humans before in Nasa’s first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years.

Artemis II crew head for home after travelling further from Earth than anyone before 6 hours ago Save Add as preferred on Google Pallab Ghosh , Science Correspondent , Alison Francis , Senior Science Reporter , Kevin Church and Esme Stallard NASA A view from Orion minutes before it disappeared behind the lunar far side Four astronauts on Nasas Artemis II mission are on their way back home after a dramatic lunar fly- them travel further from Earth than any other humans. The crew took an L contact with the Earth, as expected, for 40 minutes as they travelled behind the Moon. (let that sink in)

With communications re-established, astronaut Christina Koch dropped: “Its so solid to hear the Earth again.

The Details

” soon afterwards the spacecraft dipped to within a few thousand miles of the lunar surface and the crew witnessed a total eclipse of the Sun as the Moon blocked out its light. Watch: Artemis II mission loses contact with Earth for 40 minutes The Artemis II missions spacecraft, Orion, broke the record for human travel at about 13:56 EDT (18:56 BST) on Monday, beating a record of 248,655 miles (400,000km) held since 1970 13 mission.

Canadian astronaut Jeremey Hansen acknowledged the achievement with humility. “As we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration,” he dropped.

Why This Matters

As the spacecraft approached and the Moon swelled in its windows, the astronauts began working through a checklist of things to record on its surface, taking images with an array of digital cameras and, as Nasa had briefed, making sketches and recording their own audio descriptions of what they saw. The spacecraft was not planning to land on the Moon but fly around its far side, the side which is never visible from Earth.

Scientists and researchers are watching this development closely.

The Bottom Line

This story is still developing, and we’ll keep you updated as more info drops.

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