NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission nears its historic lunar flyby<\/p>\n
The fifth day in space for Artemis II saw space suit tests, an Easter egg hunt and final preparations for an imminent close encounter with the moon<\/p>\n
By Lee Billings<\/a> edited by Claire Cameron<\/a><\/p>\n Earth\u2019s sunlit crescent gleams against the blackness of space in this photograph taken by an Artemis II crew member during the mission\u2019s outbound voyage to the moon.<\/p>\n NASA has launched four astronauts on a pioneering journey around the moon\u2014the Artemis II mission. Follow our coverage here<\/a>.<\/p>\n As Easter Sunday unfolded on Earth, the four crew members of NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission<\/a> woke up to day five of their sojourn in space with a snippet from CeeLo Green\u2019s \u201cWorking Class Heroes (Work).\u201d They also received a recorded message from Apollo 16 moon walker Charlie Duke, who, in 1972, left a personal memento<\/a> on the lunar surface, where it remains today.<\/p>\n \u201cBelow you on the moon is a photo of my family,\u201d Duke said. \u201cI pray it reminds you that we in America and all of the world are cheering you on. Thanks to you and the whole team on the ground for building on our Apollo legacy with Artemis. Godspeed, and safe travels home.\u201d<\/p>\n After the wake-up call (and an impromptu Easter egg hunt for caches of dehydrated scrambled eggs stashed around the cabin), the crew\u2014Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Victor Glover\u2014got to work.<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Day five\u2019s highlights included a test of the Orion crew survival system (OCSS)\u2014better known as the crew\u2019s bright-orange space suits. The suits were designed to protect the astronauts during launch and splashdown, but they can also serve as lifeboats of sorts: if Orion were to depressurize in space, the suits would be able to provide up to six days of air. Two of the astronauts\u2014Wiseman and Glover\u2014attempted to quickly don and pressurize the suits as if they were in an emergency and then practiced climbing into their seats while wearing the garb. They also tested eating and drinking through a small port on each suit\u2019s helmet.<\/p>\n Another key event on day five was an outbound trajectory correction burn\u2014a brief firing of Orion\u2019s auxiliary thrusters at 11:03 P.M. EDT to keep the spacecraft on track for the journey to the moon and the return trip.<\/p>\n Early Monday morning at 12:41 A.M., the spacecraft entered the lunar sphere of influence\u2014where the moon\u2019s gravitational pull exceeds that of Earth\u2019s. Day six brings their long-awaited rendezvous with the moon: an approximately six-hour lunar observation period beginning at 2:45 P.M. Over the course of several hours, the crew will see and study the moon<\/a> from as close as 4,070 miles from its surface, witnessing parts of the far side for the first time with human eyes, targeting about 35 lunar sites<\/a> for lunar observation and snapping thousands of photographs. At 8:35 P.M., near the encounter\u2019s end, the astronauts will also see a solar eclipse from space\u2014a rare opportunity to glimpse our star\u2019s corona<\/a> as well as possible flashes of micrometeoroid impacts on the lunar surface below. And at 1:56 P.M. Artemis II is expected to surpass the distance record set in 1970 by Apollo 13; the crew will reach their maximum distance from Earth\u2014252,760 miles\u2014at 7:07 P.M. This will mark the farthest any humans have ever traveled from our planet.<\/p>\n As of 9:30 A.M. on Monday, Artemis II was more than 228,000 miles from Earth, about 46,000 miles from the moon and traveling at around 1,426 miles per hour.<\/p>\n The farther the crew gets from Earth, the more meditative they have become about all that awaits them back home. The mission has already beamed<\/a> back spectacular images of Earth from deep space<\/a>, but the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are humbled,\u201d said Canadian Space Agency astronaut and mission specialist Hansen during an interview with NBC News<\/a> on Saturday. \u201cThe fact that four of us get to be out here just brings you to your knees…. There\u2019s a lot of gratitude for the teams of people that made this possible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing [the moon] in a different way and just pairing that with how much we miss and love our families and knowing that they\u2019re looking up and seeing the same moon, it\u2019s a pretty amazing feeling,\u201d said NASA astronaut and mission specialist Christina Koch during the same interview.<\/p>\n That feeling was especially poignant for mission commander Reid Wiseman, a NASA astronaut and widower who, shortly before the NBC News interview, had spoken with his two teenage daughters\u2014his first chance to speak with them since launch. \u201cIt was surreal,\u201d he told NBC News. \u201cFor a moment, I was reunited with my little family. It was just the greatest moment of my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n The crew\u2019s emotions on the eve of Easter Sunday had echoed those of their predecessors on Apollo 8<\/a>, who had read from the biblical book of Genesis while orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968. Speaking to CBS News<\/a> in the closing hours of day four, NASA\u2019s Victor Glover, pilot of Artemis II, used the moment to offer a heartfelt message of unity: Earth, our shared oasis in the void, is what has made their mission special\u2014not the other way around.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys are talking to us because we\u2019re in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you\u2019re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we\u2019re doing is special. But we\u2019re the same distance from you, and I\u2019m trying to tell you, just trust me, you are special…. As we go into Easter Sunday thinking about, you know, all the cultures all around the world\u2014whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not\u2014this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are and that we are the same thing and that we\u2019ve got to get through this together.\u201d<\/p>\n Huddled close in Orion, the four astronauts reached out to clasp hands as Glover finished speaking. The apex of their time together in space\u2014the lunar flyby of day six\u2014has almost arrived.<\/p>\n We’re looking to host the most interesting science conversations on the web for this topic.<\/p>\n Start the DiscussionIt\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/a>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts<\/a>, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters<\/a>, must-watch videos, challenging games<\/a>, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 6, 2026 4 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm NASA\u2019s Artemis II mission nears its historic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-517100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/55189767696_27cf3376e4_o-WEB.jpg\")
<\/p>\n