All posts tagged: flyby

NASA already has next Artemis flight in sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby

NASA already has next Artemis flight in sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby

APOLLO 9 ASTRONAUT’S VIEW Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart loved flying the lunar module in low-Earth orbit – “a test pilot’s dream.” But there’s no question, he noted, that “the real astronauts”, at least in the public’s mind, were the ones who walked on the moon. Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and his crew put their passion and feelings on full display as they flew around the moon and back, choking up over lost loved ones and those left behind on Earth. During their nearly 10-day journey, they tearfully requested that a fresh, bright lunar crater be named after Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020. They also openly shared their love for one another and Planet Earth, an exquisite yet delicate oasis in the black void, which they said needs better care. Artemis II included the first woman, the first person of colour, and the first non-US citizen to fly to the moon. “Wonderful communicators, almost poets,” Isaacman said from the recovery ship while awaiting their return. Apollo’s manly, all-business moon …

First lunar flyby in over 50 years hailed as perfect mission

First lunar flyby in over 50 years hailed as perfect mission

NASA celebrated late Friday as four astronauts splashed down safely off the California coast, completing the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years and marking a major milestone for the US space agency’s ambitions to return humans to the moon. France 24 correspondent Wassim Cornet was in Diego, reporting the moment of the landing at the AirSpace Museum. Keywords for this article Source link

The most stunning pictures from Artemis II’s flyby of the moon

The most stunning pictures from Artemis II’s flyby of the moon

On 6 April, the astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission flew in a loop around the far side of the moon. They travelled more than 406,700 kilometres from Earth, further than any humans have travelled before. The four crew members – Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen – alternated shifts at the Orion capsule’s windows looking out at Earth and the moon (above). The reflection of sunlight off Earth’s surface, called earthshine, was so bright that they covered one of the windows with a spare shirt. As they passed behind the moon, the astronauts were treated to a view of areas that had never before been seen by human eyes, such as the entirety of a crater called Orientale basin (below). The dark patch at the centre of the crater is dried lava from an eruptions billions of years ago. The astronauts proposed new names for two smaller craters near Orientale: Integrity, after their spacecraft, and Carroll, after Wiseman’s late wife. Over the course of the mission, the phases of both Earth …

NASA Artemis II captures solar eclipse during moon flyby

NASA Artemis II captures solar eclipse during moon flyby

The crew of Artemis II captured what NASA’s chief called an “absolutely stunning” photo of the moon eclipsing the sun, as the spacecraft broke Apollo 13’s 56-year-old record for the longest distance traveled by humans from Earth. “This is not AI,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday. “This is why we do what we do,” said Isaacman, as Artemis II continued heading back home to Earth. The White House posted the photo taken Monday by Artemis II, and NASA released other photos from the Orion capsule, which conducted a six-hour flyby of the moon with four astronauts on board. Artemis II view of the moon eclipsing the sun. NASA Isaacman said, “I just looked at the pictures about five minutes before getting on … this interview, and I would just say they looked absolutely stunning.” Artemis’ crew “mentioned this last night during the webcast that they don’t know if human eyes are ready to see what they’ve captured,” he said. A view of the Moon as the …

Artemis II sets human spaceflight record during historic lunar fly-by

Artemis II sets human spaceflight record during historic lunar fly-by

The crew of Artemis II has entered its return phase after completing a landmark lunar fly-by that pushed human spaceflight farther from Earth than ever before. The four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft reached a peak distance of approximately 252,756 miles, surpassing the long-standing record set by Apollo 13. The milestone was achieved during a critical segment of the mission, when the spacecraft passed behind the Moon, temporarily cutting off communications with NASA for about 40 minutes. The blackout, a planned consequence of the Moon obstructing signals to Earth, coincided with the mission’s maximum distance from the planet. Lunar fly-by delivers scientific observations and rare views The six-hour lunar fly-by provided the crew with extended opportunities to observe and document the Moon’s surface, including regions of the far side that remain largely unseen from Earth. Using handheld digital cameras, the astronauts captured high-resolution imagery of geological features under varying lighting conditions. At closest approach, the Orion spacecraft passed roughly 4,000 miles above the lunar surface. The data gathered during this phase, including imagery, telemetry, and …

NASA’s Artemis II crew readies for Monday’s lunar flyby : NPR

NASA’s Artemis II crew readies for Monday’s lunar flyby : NPR

A photo of NASA’s Orion space capsule taken by a remote camera mounted on one of its solar arrays as it sped towards the moon. The four astronauts will loop around the moon on Monday and also venture farther into space than any humans before. NASA via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption NASA via Getty Images The crew of NASA’s Artemis II will make its closest approach to the moon Monday afternoon after launching from Kennedy Space Center last week. It marks a critical milestone of the agency’s Orion space capsule, sending humans on a mission to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. As the capsule loops around the moon, the astronauts will reach farther into space than humans have ever ventured. The Orion spacecraft is now in the lunar sphere of influence, meaning the moon’s gravity has more pull on the vehicle than the Earth. At 1:46 p.m. ET, the crew will surpass the record for the farthest distance traveled from Earth by humans, which was set by …

Artemis II astronauts prepare for historic Moon flyby

Artemis II astronauts prepare for historic Moon flyby

For the first time in more than half a century, astronauts will fly around the Moon on Monday, marking the high point of the Artemis II’s lunar mission.  Here’s what you need to know about the event:  Live broadcast  The flyby will last around seven hours, starting Monday around 2:45pm eastern US time (1845 GMT) and ending around 9:20pm (0120 GMT).  NASA will broadcast the flyby live on its website, as well as on YouTube, Amazon and Netflix, with commentary from both the astronauts aboard the mission and experts at the Mission Control center in Houston, Texas.  Given the lengthy distance – further than any humans have ever traveled from Earth – NASA has cautioned that the livestream video quality may be poor at times. Radio silence  There will be a period of around 40 minutes during the flyby where all communication with Artemis II will be cut off as the astronauts pass behind the Moon.  “It’ll be exciting, you know, in a slightly scary way, when they go behind the moon,” Derek Buzasi, a professor of …