HOUSTON: Little-known lunar craters, a solar eclipse and meteor strikes: the Artemis II astronauts wrapped their lunar flyby and began their journey back to Earth late Monday, bringing with them rich celestial observations scientists hope will open doors. Their eyes glued to the spacecraft windows for nearly seven hours, the team of four who spent their day breaking records and making history were treated to a view of the Moon unlike any other.&nbsp;&lsquo;It is amazing&rsquo;&nbsp;&quot;Humans probably have not evolved to see what we&#39;re seeing,&quot; said Victor Glover. &quot;It is truly hard to describe. It is amazing.&quot; The crew reported in vivid detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun. They also described flashes of light -- meteor strikes -- on the Moon&#39;s surface. &quot;I can&#39;t say enough how much science we&#39;ve already learned,&quot; Kelsey Young, lead scientist for the Artemis II mission, told the astronauts. &quot;You really brought the Moon closer for us today, and we cannot say thank you enough.&quot;&nbsp;Trump praises &#39;modern-day pioneers&#39;&nbsp;But even after becoming the furthest humans to ever travel from Earth, their day was not over: the bleary-eyed astronauts remained in good spirits as they took a late-night call from US President Donald Trump. Unlike the Artemis astronauts and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, Trump at age 79 is old enough to remember the Apollo days. And he was, in a word, impressed. &quot;You&#39;ve really inspired the entire world,&quot; Trump said, calling them &quot;modern-day pioneers&quot; who have &quot;a lot of courage doing what you&#39;re doing.&quot; &quot;America will be second to none in space and everything we&#39;re doing, and we will continue to lead the whole thing into the stars, this incredible journey into the stars.&quot; He probed the astronauts about their favorite moments and asked what it was like to lose connection with Earth for some 40 minutes during an expected communications blackout. The call even had a little signal glitch of its own, with Trump waiting expectantly as the astronauts appeared not to hear him for a full minute. &quot;Might have gotten cut off,&quot; Trump said. &quot;It is a long distance, it&#39;s a long ways.&quot;&nbsp;Historic trip&nbsp;Monday&#39;s milestones were plentiful, including when the Artemis II team broke the distance record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which they were expected to surpass by 4,105 miles (6,606 kilometers) when they reached the journey&#39;s anticipated furthest distance from Earth -- 252,760 miles (406,778 kilometers). Astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the moment should &quot;challenge this generation and the next, to make sure this record is not long-lived.&quot; And as noted by Trump, the crew lost contact with planet Earth for about 40 minutes as their spacecraft passed behind Earth&#39;s satellite. The blackout period was expected but still notable: they were the first people in more than 50 years to lose contact with the rest of humanity. &quot;It is so great to hear from Earth again,&quot; said astronaut Christina Koch, as the crewmembers were once again able to speak with humans on their home planet.&quot;We will always choose Earth.&quot;&nbsp;Moon memorials&nbsp;The Orion capsule will now travel back to Earth in a so-called &quot;free-return trajectory,&quot; a trip home that will take about four days. Adding to the historic nature of the mission led by Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II crew includes several firsts. Glover will be the first person of color to fly around the Moon, Koch will be the first woman, and Canadian Hansen the first non-American. Monday&#39;s celestial workday included a poignant moment just after the crew broke the distance record, when they proposed designating two previously unnamed craters. The first they requested to name in honor of their spacecraft&#39;s nickname, &quot;Integrity.&quot; They offered a second name, &quot;Carroll,&quot; for another crater, which they asked be named after the late wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman, who died of cancer.&nbsp;&lsquo;Like to call it Carroll&rsquo;&quot;It&#39;s a bright spot on the Moon,&quot; said Hansen, his voice breaking with emotion. &quot;And we would like to call it Carroll.&quot; The astronauts embraced, and mission control in Houston held a moment of silence. &quot;Integrity and Carroll crater, loud and clear. Thank you,&quot; said Gibbons. NASA said they would formally submit the name proposals to the International Astronomical Union, the body charged with naming celestial bodies and surface features.

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Their eyes glued to the spacecraft windows for nearly seven hours, the team of four who spent their day breaking records and making history were treated to a view of the Moon unlike any other.

After milestone-rich lunar flyby, astronauts start trip home

HOUSTON: The four Artemis astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon on the way to their planned lunar flyby, NASA said on Friday evening. &quot;You are now closer to the moon than you are to us on Earth,&quot; mission control told the astronauts at around 11 pm (0400 GMT), according to the space agency&#39;s official live broadcast. &quot;We all kind of had a collective, I guess, expression of joy at that... We can see the Moon out of the docking hatch right now, it is a beautiful sight,&quot; said astronaut Christina Koch replied. The milestone was hit around two days, five hours and 24 minutes after liftoff, according to the NASA official broadcast. The US space agency&#39;s online dashboard showed that the Orion spacecraft carrying the astronauts is now more than 219,000 kilometers (136,080 miles) from Earth. &quot;We&#39;re halfway there,&quot; NASA posted on social media. The spacecraft&#39;s next milestone will be entering the lunar sphere of influence, set to take place on day five of the flight, according to NASA. The astronauts -- Americans Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen -- are now on a &quot;free-return&quot; trajectory, which uses the Moon&#39;s gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth without propulsion.

The four Artemis astronauts have passed the halfway point between Earth and the Moon on the way to their planned lunar flyby, NASA said on Friday evening.

Artemis astronauts pass half-way point on way to Moon

WASHINGTON: The four astronauts selected for the Artemis 2 Moon mission will be the first to travel there in more than five decades. In doing so, they will become the new faces of American space exploration. Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch will make the voyage with their Canadian colleague Jeremy Hansen, and are now preparing to take off as soon as April 1. The journey, set to last around 10 days, will take the astronauts on a loop around the Moon, though they will not land on its surface. The crew comprises the first woman, the first person of color and the first non-American to take part in such a journey. Those are key differences from the Apollo era, which included the first and to this day the only humans to travel to the Moon. Here is a closer look at the crew: Reid Wiseman&nbsp; At 50 years old, Reid Wiseman is the mission&#39;s commander. The native of Baltimore joined NASA in 2009 following a 27-year career in the US Navy. &quot;I never thought I&#39;d be an astronaut,&quot; he said on a NASA podcast. &quot;I mean, come on, it&#39;s like an unobtainable dream.&quot; Until it&#39;s not: in 2014, Wiseman traveled to space for a 165-day mission aboard the International Space Station, and later served as NASA&#39;s chief of the astronaut office. After losing his wife to cancer in 2020, he raised his two daughters now teenagers on his own. In January, he said he aimed for transparency in explaining to them the inherent risks of his career and his coming journey. &quot;I told them, &#39;here&#39;s where the will is, here&#39;s where the trust documents are,&#39;&quot; he said. &quot;And if anything happens to me, here&#39;s what&#39;s going to happen to you.&quot; &quot;And that&#39;s just that is a part of this life.&quot; Victor Glover Victor Glover, 49 and also a Navy veteran, will serve as pilot of the Orion spacecraft. The native of California and father of four daughters was working as a legislative advisor in the US Senate when NASA selected him in 2013. He has recounted youthful dreaming of becoming a police officer like his father. But watching a Space Shuttle launch on his family&#39;s television set changed his perspective: &quot;I thought, &#39;I really want to drive one of those.&#39;&quot; &quot;And yes, I said drive, because I didn&#39;t know any pilots or engineers.&quot; He will become the first Black man and person of color, period to travel to the Moon. In 2020, he became the first African American to take part on a long-duration mission to the ISS. He emphasized at the time that the historic first was made possible thanks to those who came before him, paying tribute to figures including Guion Bluford, the first African American to travel to space in 1983. Christina Koch&nbsp;American astronaut Christina Koch, 47, will become the first woman to take part in a lunar mission. Like Glover, she was also chosen by NASA in 2013. Her background is particularly eclectic: an engineer by training, she is a seasoned explorer who has worked in extreme environments including Antarctica. She long dreamed of becoming an astronaut, she has said, noting the poster of the iconic &quot;Earthrise&quot; image plastered to the wall of her childhood bedroom. That photograph was taken during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. &quot;I always say to people, do what scares you,&quot; she says of her personal motto. &quot;And that means I have to follow my own advice.&quot; Koch already holds the record for longest spaceflight by a woman &nbsp;328 days and also participated in the first spacewalk performed entirely by women, alongside her colleague Jessica Meir. Jeremy Hansen&nbsp; Canadian Jeremy Hansen, 50, rounds out the crew and will be the first non-American to fly around the Moon. Following his career as a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Canadian Space Agency brought him into its ranks in 2009. Post-training he served for several years as a liaison between Earth and the ISS, after which he was entrusted with training a new class of astronauts. He has said that as a child he found a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the Moon, a moment that sparked his passion for space exploration. The Artemis 2 mission will be his first journey away from Earth and with that, the father of three will fulfill a lifelong dream.

The Artemis II crew is shown inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in front of their Orion crew module on Aug. 8, 2023. From left are: Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist; Victor Glover, pilot; 

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Artemis II mission will send astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen on a historic 10-day crewed flight around the Moon, marking the first such journey in over 50 years.

Meet the four astronauts set to voyage around the Moon

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ISLAMABAD: NASA will send astronauts around the moon in February 2026, marking the first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.&nbsp; The 10‑day mission will carry four astronauts on a lunar flyby. It is a crucial step in NASA&rsquo;s Artemis program, paving the way for future landings and establishing a permanent lunar presence. Testing systems beyond EarthArtemis II will validate the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft&#39;s ability to support human life in deep space, according to NASA.&nbsp; <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/75660bae-8a14-4117-ad56-9cd8e4045ea8.png" style="width: 609px;" class="fr-fic fr-dii">This illustration shows NASA&rsquo;s new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which will send&nbsp;astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis missions. (NASA) The crew will test life-support systems that generate breathable air and remove carbon dioxide, evaluating performance during both high-activity exercise periods and rest. These tests are essential for the extended journeys required for future lunar surface missions. Unlike Apollo missions that landed on the Moon, Artemis II follows a free-return trajectory, bringing astronauts close to the lunar surface before returning to Earth without landing. NASA officials have described Artemis II as both a test of hardware and human endurance, requiring rigorous training before astronauts attempt more complex tasks on subsequent missions. Meet the crew<img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/b6a6c000-ec85-46f3-9876-cc80583c89c7.png" style="width: 446px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib fr-fil">NASA astronauts (left to right) Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman,&nbsp;and Jeremy Hansen. (NASA/Josh Valcarcel) NASA commander Reid Wiseman, a Navy captain with 165 days of spaceflight experience, leads the 10‑day mission.&nbsp; Navy aviator Victor Glover, who piloted SpaceX&#39;s Crew-1 mission, will serve as pilot and become the first person of color to travel to the Moon. Christina Koch, who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days, will become the first woman to journey to lunar space.&nbsp; Canadian Air Force Colonel Jeremy Hansen will complete the crew as the first non-American to venture beyond Earth orbit. Beyond ApolloApollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan became the last human to walk on the Moon on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program completed six lunar landings between 1969 and 1972 before ending due to budget constraints, according to the NASA History Office. Artemis differs fundamentally in scope. Rather than short-term missions, the program aims to establish permanent infrastructure, including the Gateway lunar space station and surface habitats, to support sustained operations and eventual Mars missions. &quot;NASA remains focused on getting ready to safely fly four astronauts around the Moon and back,&quot; said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. The Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft are now stacked at Kennedy Space Center, with NASA looking to launch as early as February 2026.&nbsp;Ground teams are accelerating final preparations, including crew dress rehearsals and a wet dress rehearsal that will involve loading cryogenic propellants to simulate launch conditions.

NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby, testing spacecraft systems and life-support for future lunar landings and long-term human space exploration. It will be the first crewed Moon flight since 1972.

Articles tagged with "Astronauts"

After milestone-rich lunar flyby, astronauts start trip home

Artemis astronauts pass half-way point on way to Moon

Meet the four astronauts set to voyage around the Moon

NASA to send astronauts to Moon after five decades