“Stop for a moment with the crew […] as they look back at our planet”highlighted NASA in a post on social media. One of the photographs shows just a part of the planet through the capsule’s window, while another reveals the entire Earth, with Africa visible and a faint green aurora in the northern hemisphere.
The mission began on Wednesday, April 1, from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, and is expected to last around ten days. This is a lunar flyby – without moon landing – which serves as preparation for future missions under the Artemis program.
One of the critical moments, the translunar injection maneuver, was completed successfully. Lori Glaze, head of NASA, described the process as “impeccable”: “From this moment on, the laws of orbital mechanics will transport the crew to the Moon, round its far side and return to Earth.”
The crew will also observe a solar eclipse on the sixth day of the mission. Artemis II is seen as a decisive step towards future moon landings and sustained human presence on the Moon and marks the return of a US space race five decades later.
Leave a Reply