Unseen Moon landscapes revealed by Artemis II crew
The photos were taken on April 6 during a 7-hour pass around the lunar far side by the agency’s Orion spacecraft and released Tuesday.
The crew of four astronauts used several cameras to capture thousands of photographs. The team includes Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. More images are expected in the coming days as the spacecraft continues its journey back to Earth.
The crew also recorded differences in color, brightness and surface texture across the lunar terrain, observed both earthset and earthrise, and captured views of the Sun’s corona during a solar eclipse. In addition, they reported 6 meteoroid impact flashes on the Moon’s darkened surface.
Scientists are now examining the transmitted images, audio and other mission data to determine the precise timing and location of the observed events and to compare them with observations made by amateur astronomers on Earth.
“It was remarkable listening to the crew describe the stunning views during the flyby,” said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist at the agency’s headquarters. “At first, their descriptions didn’t quite match what we were seeing on our screens. Now that higher resolution images are coming down, we can finally experience the moments they were trying to share and truly appreciate the scientific return provided by these images and our other research on this mission.”
NASA plans for the spacecraft to return to Earth on April 10, with splashdown scheduled off the coast of San Diego. After recovery, the crew will be transferred to the transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha.
NASA’s Artemis program, announced in 2019, aims to return humans to the Moon through regular crewed missions and establish a platform for future exploration, including eventual missions to Mars.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the Moon was revealed in rare view of both near and far sides.