NASA Artemis II captures solar eclipse during moon flyby
The Artemis II crew captured what the NASA chief called an “absolutely stunning” image of the Moon eclipsing the sun as the spacecraft broke Apollo 13’s 56-year-old record for the longest distance humans have traveled from Earth.
“This is not artificial intelligence,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday.
“That’s why we do what we do,” Isaacman said as Artemis II continued its return to Earth.
The White House announced World War II on Monday. He released the photo taken by Artemis, and NASA released other photos from the Orion capsule, which carried out a six-hour flight to the Moon with four astronauts.
Image of Artemis II with the moon covering the sun.
NASA
“I looked at the photos about five minutes before we started this interview, and I can tell you they look absolutely stunning,” Isaacman said.
Artemis’ team “stated during the webcast last night that they did not know if the human eye was ready to see what they captured,” the team said.
“I paused when I saw him,” Isaacman said. “That’s why we’re sending astronauts farther into space than ever before.”
“So we bring them back home and learn and continue what I think is the greatest adventure in human history,” he said.
“It blows my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the Moon right now,” Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed from the spacecraft on Monday.
“This is truly incredible,” Hansen, who is Canadian, said, according to an Associated Press report.
The other three crew members are Americans, including commander Reid Wiseman, the AP said. One cried Monday when Hansen asked the crew for permission to name a new moon crater after Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.
Artemis is NASA’s first spacecraft to fly near the Moon since Apollo 17 landed on the Moon in December 1972.
“You made history and you truly made all of America proud,” President Donald Trump told the crew on Monday.
NASA plans to launch Artemis III in 2027 to dock with lunar landers.
NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch looks out from one of the main cabin windows of the Orion spacecraft and looks toward Earth as the crew travels toward the Moon on April 2, 2026.
NASA | via Reuters
The space agency aims to land two astronauts at the South Pole of the Moon in 2028 with the Artemis IV mission.
“Within a few months, actually in early 2027, we will begin landing uncrewed robotic missions at almost monthly intervals at the South Pole of the moon, and we will actually begin building the moon base,” Isaacman said Tuesday. he said.
