Astronauts of Artemis II reach lunar orbit after more than 50 years of human absence

Miami, US (EFE).- The four astronauts of Artemis II entered lunar orbit on Monday and began a historic period of lunar observation around 2:45 pm Eastern Time, officially marking humanity’s return to the Moon since Apollo 17, launched in December 1972.

The NASA mission will not land; instead, it will fly over the natural satellite, including its far side, the part of the Moon that cannot be observed from Earth, aboard the Orion spacecraft.

The crew is the most diverse to travel to the Moon and includes three Americans: Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch (the first woman to reach the satellite), and Victor Glover (the first person of Black heritage to achieve this), as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen (the first international astronaut on a NASA lunar mission).

Entering the satellite’s sphere of influence occurs when the spacecraft transitions from being dominated by Earth’s gravity to being more intensely attracted by the Moon, NASA explained.

Monday was a day full of milestones, including breaking the distance record from Earth set by Apollo 13 in 1970 and flying over the Moon’s far side.

It also involves facing a communications blackout for about 40 minutes while behind the far side of the Moon and reaching the closest point to it, as well as the maximum distance from Earth, in this case about 406,760 kilometers (252,750 miles).

And just as the Apollo program astronauts had the opportunity to see exclusive solar eclipses in the seventies, Artemis II will also have its own, a very long one, which will last about 53 minutes and will not be observable from Earth.

Despite delays suffered by the launch of Artemis II, which was scheduled for Feb. 2026 and after additional series of delays of about two years, the mission has met the vast majority of its goals so far, according to NASA officials.

This test mission, aiming to establish a permanent presence on the Moon, has presented only minor setbacks such as an initial problem with the toilet, which NASA says was resolved and has been usable by the crew, and a bad odor that the space agency had been investigating until the weekend.

After achieving a flawless liftoff on Apr. 1, from Cape Canaveral (Florida), the four astronauts arrived in the Moon’s orbit on Monday, their sixth day of travel, which is scheduled to end on Friday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, California. EFE

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