Astronauts set distance record, revealing the Moon as a place to be explored

Eclipse chasers on Earth know that the Moon’s passage in front of the Sun provides a rare opportunity to see the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the solar corona. The extremely hot corona extends millions of miles into space. For the Artemis II astronauts, the corona created a halo-like effect around the moon’s circumference.

“It’s shining behind the entire moon,” said Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. “I thought it would look dark against the black sky or deep space, but the Sun is illuminating the entire limb of the moon. You can see its entire circumference… You can still see little bits of topography around the entire limb. There are just bumps as you go around it.”

Glover, 49, continued his description, identifying stars and planets that are not easily visible when illuminated by the spacecraft’s sunlight.

“It was an absolutely wonderful, wonderful experience,” Wiseman said after the eclipse ended. “Houston, if you could give me about 20 new superlatives in tomorrow’s mission summary, that would help expand my vocabulary a bit.”

amazing in every way

The cosmic eclipse capped a remarkable day on the moon, which began with a wakeup call recorded by former astronaut Jim Lovell before his death last year. Lovell flew around the Moon twice, first in 1968 on Apollo 8, the first crewed mission to see the Moon up close. He was later commander of Apollo 13, which set the previous human spaceflight distance record in 1970. Apollo 13 zoomed around the Moon after famously aborting its lunar landing mission.

“Welcome to my old neighborhood!” Lowell said in a pre-recorded message. “When Frank Borman, Bill Anders and I orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity’s first close-up look at the Moon and a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world. I’m proud to pass that torch to you – as you walk around the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars for the benefit of all. It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be. But don’t forget to enjoy the view. So, Reed, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great teams supporting you—good luck and Godspeed from all of us on this good Earth.”

A short time later, Artemis II surpassed Lovell’s Apollo 13 record. Jenny Gibbons, an astronaut in mission control, marked the moment with a radio call to the Orion spacecraft. Hansen responded to the crew’s request to name two craters on the Moon, one of which was for him. integrity spacecraft and another for Wiseman’s late wife Carol, who died of cancer in 2020.