National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen, who are aboard the Orion capsule for the Artemis II moon mission, on Sunday (local time), described seeing the moon outside the window of the capsule.
Speaking to NBC, Koch shared her experience of witnessing the moon and said that it looked different from what is seen from Earth. She said, “The darker parts just aren’t quite in the right place,” and added, “something about your senses that is not the moon that I’m used to seeing.” Koch also noted that this is the dark side of the moon, something that the astronauts have seen before.
Koch describes the experience
She further explained that she and the three other crew members, who include NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, reviewed their training material and compared them with what they were seeing to make sense of the unfamiliar view.
Koch said that although the crew is excited, they have been able to relax and sleep comfortably inside the Orion capsule, which measures about 16.5 feet across and offers living space comparable to a camper van.
She noted, “Being human up here is one of the coolest things about this mission.” Koch explained that they are just people trying to get by. Explaining further, she said, “For example, we might go look at the far side of the moon and take in its awesomeness, and then go, ‘Hm, maybe I should change my socks,’ and try to dig around for a pair of socks. So this is the dichotomy of human spaceflight.”
Astronauts speak to families
On Friday and Saturday, the four crew members had time to speak to their family members, which, according to Commander Wiseman, was a major highlight. Describing it, he called it one of the greatest moments of his entire life.
Artemis II moon mission
Earlier on Wednesday, the four astronauts, Wiseman, Koch, Glover, and Hansen, lifted off for their 10-day journey around the Moon, making it the first human lunar mission in over five decades. The crew also became the first to fly aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The astronauts have been officially moon-bound since Thursday evening, when the spacecraft carried a key engine burn that boosted the capsule out of Earth’s orbit.
Commander Reid Wiseman described the flight as a “magnificent accomplishment,” and added that the crew’s ability to view both Earth and the Moon from their spacecraft has been “truly awe-inspiring.”
Ever since the astronauts reached space, they have been keeping busy, NBC reports. In the first few hours after they lifted off, the Artemis II moon mission crew started checking the Orion capsule’s life-support systems. Reportedly, they encountered a few issues, including glitches with email and difficulties with the onboard toilet. However, they have described the overall mission as proceeding smoothly.
As the Orion capsule loops around the Moon, Wiseman, Koch, Glover, and Hansen are on track to travel farther from Earth than any humans before them. They are expected to reach a peak distance of 252,757 miles at 7:05 p.m. ET (4:35 a.m. IST, next day), surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 by roughly 4,100 miles.
