The Artemis II astronauts are already the humans who have traveled farthest into space ever
The crew surpasses the Apollo 13 record and prepares to fly over the far side of the Moon
BarcelonaTears in their eyes, remembering the legacy of their predecessors and encouraging future generations to conquer outer space as they are doing. The Artemis II astronauts have made history by becoming the humans who have ever traveled farthest in space: this Monday afternoon they surpassed the record of Apollo 13, which is the manned mission that until now had flown farthest from Earth, at 400,171 km away in 1970. Furthermore, it is expected that the ship's crew will reach 406,773 kilometers from Earth at the farthest point from the planet during their mission. The Orion capsule they are traveling in had already broken this record during the Artemis I mission in 2022, but at that time it was traveling without a crew. Artemis II will fall short of the distance Artemis I reached, but will go farther than Apollo 13.
"We want to pay tribute to our predecessors in space exploration. And challenge the current and future generations so that this record is not broken again soon," they exclaimed from the ship that continues its journey towards the Moon. After surpassing Apollo 13, the astronauts have proposed names for two lunar craters to NASA's control center. One will bear the name the crew has given the ship, Integrity, and the other will be called Carroll, in honor of Commander Reid Wiseman's wife.
The highlight of the mission will be when the ship's crew flies over the far side of the Moon. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen, from the Canadian Space Agency, will be the first human beings to see the other side of the satellite with their own eyes since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. It will be around 0:44 AM on Tuesday in Catalonia, when they will lose contact with Earth for about 40 minutes because the Moon will block all communications.
However, NASA has assured that they have it completely under control, as before Artemis II more than twenty astronauts from the Apollo missions experienced this absolute silence. The Moon has a solid mass of almost 3,500 kilometers in diameter, and it prevents radio waves coming from NASA's control center or the capsule from meeting, so we will have to wait for Orion to appear on the other side of the satellite. This silence will be unusual for the astronauts, who are in permanent contact with NASA experts during the mission.
Observing the far side
After a few hours of observation, they will use the Moon's gravitational force to gain momentum on their way back to Earth, a journey that will last about four more days. For the first time, astronauts are also bringing their own mobile phones to capture images, which NASA will share on social media. Additionally, the capsule has 32 cameras and different devices to capture all the details of the mission.
According to NASA, “human eyes and brains are very sensitive to subtle changes in color, texture, and other surface features”, so astronauts can provide details that escape cameras or other technologies. "Direct observation of the lunar surface by astronauts, along with all the scientific advances made in recent decades, could reveal new discoveries and a deeper appreciation of the lunar surface features," says the space agency.
It should be noted that the Moon has a hidden side due to synchronous rotation, meaning the satellite takes the same amount of time to complete one rotation on its axis as it does to orbit the Earth. This means it always shows the same face to our planet, so the other side is not visible from Earth. The study of this region of the satellite must be done using telescopes, satellites, and lunar missions like Artemis II.
It is worth mentioning that the two sides are very different: while the visible side has large basaltic lava plains called “mare”, the hidden side mainly features craters and mountains due to meteorite impacts. The eastern basin will be one of the main study subjects for the crew, an impact crater 930 kilometers wide in the southern hemisphere of the Moon.