NASA Artemis II Flight Day 6 Highlights: Lunar Flyby | Johnson Space Center

NASA Artemis II Flight Day 6 Highlights: Lunar Flyby | Johnson Space Center

The Artemis II Mission wrapped up a historic seven-hour lunar flyby, marking humanity’s first return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and capturing images of the lunar far side. As they flew over the Moon’s far side, the crew photographed and described terrain features including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface cracks and ridges formed as the Moon slowly evolved over time. They also noted color, brightness and texture, providing clues that help scientists understand the composition and history of the lunar surface. The crew witnessed an “Earthset”—the moment Earth dropped below the lunar horizon—as Orion traveled behind the Moon and an “Earthrise” as the spacecraft emerged from the opposite edge of the Moon.

As the lunar observation period ended, the crew witnessed a nearly hour-long solar eclipse as the spacecraft, the Moon and the Sun aligned. With a view of a mostly darkened Moon, the crew analyzed the solar corona—the Sun’s outermost atmosphere—as it appeared around the Moon’s edge.

During the eclipse, the crew had an opportunity to look for some rarely seen phenomena that are only visible on an unlit portion of the Moon. They reported six light flashes created by meteoroids impacting the lunar surface while traveling many thousands of miles per hour.

Scientists already are looking forward to the images, along with the many others taken during the flyby. After the lunar data is downlinked from the spacecraft overnight, scientists will look at images, audio, and other data to determine better times and locations of the flashes and seek input from amateurs who were observing the Moon at the same time.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard launched on the Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s Artemis II Mission is taking Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft.

Track NASA’s Artemis II Mission in real time:
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis-ii/arow/

Check the Artemis blog for updates: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 42 minutes
Release Date: April 7, 2026

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Earthset #EarthRise #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #SLS #CrewedMissions #Astronauts #ChristinaKoch #ReidWiseman #VictorGlover #JeremyHansen #CSA #Canada #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #NASAJohnson #JSC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video