Artemis II entered the Moon's sphere of influence for the first time in 50 years
Kyiv • UNN
The Orion capsule crossed the lunar sphere of influence and is preparing for a flyby 6,400 km from the surface. Astronauts have already begun visual observation.
Astronauts of "Artemis II" arrived in lunar space early on Monday, April 6, becoming the first people to do so since the crew of "Apollo 17" in December 1972, writes UNN with reference to Space.com.
Details
The "Orion" capsule of "Artemis II" entered the Moon's "sphere of influence" - an area where lunar gravity is stronger than Earth's - at 00:37 EDT (07:37 Kyiv time) on Monday. At that time, the capsule was approximately 62,764 kilometers from the Moon and 373,368 km from Earth.
"Orion" will get much closer to the lunar surface: at night, it will fly approximately 6,400 km above the gray ground during a flyby that will serve to bring them back to Earth.
The flyby will peak at approximately 19:00 EDT (02:00 the next day Kyiv time).
Meanwhile, NASA's "Artemis II" astronauts have officially achieved "moon joy."
The four astronauts flying around the Moon as part of NASA's "Artemis II" mission had the opportunity to observe their lunar target late on Saturday, April 4, just two days before their historic flyby past Earth's closest neighbor. And to say that the crew was delighted is perhaps an understatement of cosmic proportions, the publication writes.
"It's phenomenal," Christina Koch, Artemis 2 mission specialist and the first woman to fly to the Moon, radioed to mission control. "The Moon we're looking at is not at all the Moon you see from Earth."
"I'm not one for hyperbole, but this is the only thing I can think of," said "Artemis II" commander Reid Wiseman, listing the lunar craters he could see through a 400mm camera lens. "It's just everything from training, but in three dimensions and absolutely incredible. It's incredible."
"Copy, moon joy," Mission Control radioed back.
The astronauts weren't just admiring the Moon. The crew radioed observations of lunar craters, its vast basaltic plains known as mare (Latin for "seas"), variations in brightness, and other details. They turned off the lights in the cabin of their lunar spacecraft "Orion" to get a better look.