{"id":390587,"date":"2026-04-09T22:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390587\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T22:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:08:11","slug":"artemis-astronauts-describe-lunar-voyage-as-surreal-ahead-of-earth-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/390587\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis astronauts describe lunar voyage as surreal ahead of Earth return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drawing ever closer to Earth, the Artemis II astronauts tidied up their lunar cruiser for its upcoming \u201cfireball\u201d return and reflected on their historic journey around the Moon, describing it as surreal and profound.<\/p>\n

As the next-to-last day of their flight dawned on Thursday, humanity\u2019s first lunar explorers in more than half a century were less than 150,000 miles (240,000 kilometres) from home with the odometer clicking down.<\/p>\n

Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch, pilot Victor Glover and Canadian astronaut and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen became humanity\u2019s first lunar explorers in more than half a century (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

Pilot Victor Glover said: \u201cWe have to get back. There\u2019s so much data that you\u2019ve seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There are so many more pictures, so many more stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201criding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well\u201d.<\/p>\n

Being cut off from all of humanity for nearly an hour while behind the Moon was especially \u201csurreal\u201d, according to commander Reid Wiseman.<\/p>\n

The Artemis II crew travelled around the Moon, the first crew to do so since the Apollo missions 50 years ago (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot that our brains have to process \u2026 and it is a true gift,\u201d Wiseman said during the crew\u2019s first news conference since before lift-off.<\/p>\n

While out of contact behind the Moon on Monday, Wiseman, Glover, Christina Koch and Canada\u2019s Jeremy Hansen became the most distant humans ever, clocking in at a record 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometres) from Earth before heading back.<\/p>\n

As they emerged from behind the Moon, they experienced a wondrous total solar eclipse as the orb blocked the sun from their perspective.<\/p>\n

Launching from Florida on April 1 diminished the amount of illumination on the lunar far side, Glover noted, but the eclipse was the consolation prize \u201cand it was one of the greatest gifts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman takes a moment during the seven-hour lunar observation period (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s re-entry and Pacific splashdown off the coast of San Diego \u2014 as dynamic and dangerous as lift-off \u2014 now tops everyone\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

The recovery ship, USS John P Murtha, is already at sea, with a squadron of military planes and helicopters poised to join the operation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time that Nasa and the Defence Department have teamed up for a lunar crew\u2019s re-entry since Apollo 17 in 1972.<\/p>\n

The Artemis II crew captured this image of the Carroll Crater, a name suggested by the crew in honour of Reid Wiseman\u2019s late wife, Carroll Taylor Wiseman (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

Artemis\u2019s Orion capsule will come screaming back, hitting the atmosphere at a predicted 34,965 feet (10,657 metres) per second \u2014 or 23,840 mph (38,367 kph) \u2014 not a record but still mind-bogglingly fast.<\/p>\n

Mission Control will be paying close attention to how the capsule\u2019s heat shield holds up.<\/p>\n

During the only other Orion test flight to the Moon \u2014 in 2022 without a crew \u2014 the heat shield suffered considerably more damage than expected from the 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) of re-entry.<\/p>\n

Instead of replacing Artemis II\u2019s heat shield, which would have forced another lengthy delay, Nasa tweaked the capsule\u2019s descent through the atmosphere to reduce the blisteringly hot exposure.<\/p>\n

The Moon and the Earth as captured by the Artemis II crew (NASA via AP)<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s Artemis III and beyond will fly with redesigned heat shields.<\/p>\n

Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth.<\/p>\n

Artemis IV in 2028 will attempt to land two astronauts near the moon\u2019s south pole, setting the stage for what Nasa hopes will be a sustainable lunar base.<\/p>\n

Nasa officials have been loath to provide their risk assessment numbers for the nearly 10-day mission, acknowledging launch and entry as the biggest threats.<\/p>\n

Nasa\u2019s Lakiesha Hawkins said: \u201cWe\u2019re down to the wire now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re down to the end of the mission, and obviously getting the crew back home and getting them landed safely is a significant part of the risk that\u2019s still in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drawing ever closer to Earth, the Artemis II astronauts tidied up their lunar cruiser for its upcoming \u201cfireball\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,6514,82,247],"class_list":{"0":"post-390587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-place-international","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}