NASA’s Artemis 2 mission has marked a major milestone by sending astronauts toward the Moon for the first time in about 50 years, conducting a close flyby without landing.
The spacecraft carrying four astronauts launched on April 1 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It entered the Moon’s gravitational influence early the day before yesterday (India time) and passed very close to the lunar surface.
During the flyby, the crew reached a distance no human mission has achieved before. NASA said the spacecraft came within 6,545 km of the Moon and travelled as far as 406,778 km from Earth, beating Apollo 13’s 1970 record of 400,171 km. The astronauts also transmitted images described as unlike anything previously seen by the human eye.
As the spacecraft moved behind the Moon, communications with Earth were cut off for 42 minutes. Signals were lost at 4:13 am IST and restored at 4:55 am, a tense window for teams monitoring the mission.
Over about seven hours of intensive observation around the Moon, the crew reported identifying two new bright craters and naming them. They also described witnessing a total solar eclipse effect as the Moon temporarily blocked the Sun, and a sunrise seen from behind the Moon.
