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Artemis II crew describe ‘overwhelming’ emotions after soaring past the moon
Nasa astronauts begin journey home having collected eagerly awaited images of impact craters and ridges
TL;DR
- Artemis II astronauts experienced powerful emotions observing the moon's surface.
- They captured images of impact craters, cracks, ridges, Earthrise, and the Orientale basin.
- Further images may reveal brown, green, and orange hues and faint layers of moondust.
- The crew is now returning to Earth for a splashdown near San Diego.
- Astronaut Christina Koch described an 'overwhelming sense of being moved' by the lunar landscape.
- Victor Glover expressed how 'moving' it was to look out the window and imagine walking on the surface.
- The Orion capsule launched on April 1st from Kennedy Space Center.
- The crew consists of Nasa astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
- Artemis II astronauts broke the record for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth.
- The capsule will re-enter the atmosphere at high speed, with modifications to the re-entry angle to reduce risk from heat shield damage.