The Eastern basin, a giant crater of the Luna known as the “Grand Canyon” lunar due to its similarity to the American geographical feature, was first observed in its entirety by human eyes when the crew of the Artemis II mission photographed the geological formation from a distance that none of the Apollo missions of the sixties and seventies managed to achieve, reported the NASA.
The complete observation of this crater is significant because it is located on the far side of the Moon, the side of the satellite that remains invisible from the Moon. Tierra because its rotation is synchronized with its Earth’s orbit.
Although the Apollo astronauts had already partially seen this region when they orbited the Moon at 113 kilometers of its surface between 1968 y 1972the Orion ship from Artemis II will become 7,400 kilometersa distance 65 times greater that allows us to observe the entire lunar surface, including the entire Eastern basin and polar areas inaccessible to previous missions.
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‘No human eye had ever seen this crater until today’
“It is very characteristic and no human eye had ever seen this crater before until today, when we had the privilege of seeing it,” declared the astronaut. Christina Koch during a live session with children. Koch described NBC News the sensation of observing the Moon from an unprecedented perspective: “The darkest parts are simply not in the right place. And something in you feels that it is not the moon I am used to seeing.”
The Orion ship, which carries the Americans Koch, Reid Wiseman y Victor Glover along with the Canadian Jeremy Hansenis located 400,000 kilometers from Earth, a distance a thousand times greater than that of the International Space Station.
Commander Reid Wiseman explained that the unique perspective allows simultaneous observation of the Earth and the Moon from an intermediate point. “The Earth is almost in total eclipse. The Moon is almost in broad daylight, and the only way to have that view is to be halfway between the two entities,” he said.
The lunar flyby will begin this Monday at 1:45 p.m. Central Mexico time for six hours. Astronauts will break the distance record of the Apollo 13 upon reaching 406,700 kilometers from Earth at 6:05 p.m., surpassing the mark of 1970 for 6,600 kilometers.
Netflix will live stream the Artemis II flyby
For its part, the Netflix platform will broadcast the flyover live starting at 12:00 p.m. The video on demand service did not cover the takeoff of the April 1 from the Kennedy Space Centerso this event represents the second broadcast of the agreement between the streaming service and NASA, after a first broadcast carried out in July 2025.
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Astronauts will photograph specific lunar features—ancient lava flows and impact craters—the images of which could help understand how the Moon and the solar system formed.
At 7:35 p.m., the crew will experience a solar eclipse from space when the Moon blocks the Sun for almost an hour, allowing them to observe the solar corona and look for glimpses of rocky objects impacting the lunar surface.
The NASA aspires to a moon landing 2028 with Artemis III53 years after Charles Duke became the last human being to set foot on the satellite.
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