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The four astronauts aboard Nasa’s Artemis II mission are speeding back to Earth after looping around the Moon, a trip that took them 400,000km from home — further than any humans have ever travelled before.
The American and Canadian crew blasted off on Wednesday for the 1mn km, 10-day journey that marked a step towards the US space agency’s plans to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface. It was Nasa’s first launch of astronauts to the Moon in more than 50 years.
After 40 minutes of radio silence while their Integrity spacecraft rounded the Moon’s far side, which is invisible from Earth, astronaut Christina Koch sent a message to mission control: “Houston, Integrity, comms check.”
As she watched Earthrise, she added: “To Asia, Africa and Oceania, we are looking back at you . . . You can look up and see the moon right now. We see you, too.”
Houston responded: “Our single system, fragile and interconnected. Those of us that can, are looking back.”
The crew also revelled in the view of a total solar eclipse, as the Moon blotted out the Sun’s disc. Commander Reid Wiseman called the sight “absolutely spectacular, surreal”.
“There’s no adjective. I’m going to need to invent some new ones to describe what we’re looking at out this window,” he said.
The crew received a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump. “Humans have really never seen anything quite like what you’re doing,” he told them. “It’s really special.”
Trump also promised that Nasa would establish a permanent human presence on the Moon, and go on to Mars.
Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian astronaut, told Trump that the Moon’s far side looked very different from the face we see from Earth, appearing flatter and with fewer big impact craters.
As their Orion spacecraft flew around the Moon’s far side at an altitude of more than 6,000km, the crew took detailed pictures and scientific observations of the lunar surface, which they will transmit back to mission control over the next four days of their return journey.
The mission is due to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California around 5pm local time on Friday.
The astronauts experienced several emotional moments, including when they asked to name two newly discovered craters on the lunar surface: one “Integrity”, after their Orion spacecraft, and the other “Carroll”, for Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer six years ago.
The tearful astronauts embraced after making the request.
At another point, Koch reported an overwhelming feeling as she gazed at the Moon. “Something just drew me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real,” she said.
Mission control played a message that Jim Lovell, who flew on two Apollo missions to the Moon more than 50 years ago, recorded two months before his death last year.
“Welcome to my old neighbourhood,” he said. “It’s a historic day and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”
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