It has been over half a century since a manned mission to the Moon took place, and while there are a number of embarrassing reasons why that’s the case, things appear to be changing for the better with a recent historic launch.
While NASA‘s Artemis 2 mission won’t see the four-astronaut crew step foot on Earth‘s nearest natural satellite, it will take the Orion spacecraft on an orbit around the Moon, allowing them to prepare for the next major mission and witness what no human has seen before.
The mission itself will only take around 10 days in total, yet in that time the astronauts will orbit around its target in its entirety, getting a long look at the dark side of the Moon that has previously eluded space agencies.
Speaking to NBC News, Artemis crew member Christina Koch has described her experience of seeing the Moon from the spacecraft’s position within outer space, reacting in particular to viewing the far side for the first time.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch has revealed an ‘eerie’ confession about seeing the Moon from the Orion spacecraft (NASA)
“The darker parts aren’t quite in the right place,” Koch revealed in an eerie confession, adding that “something about you senses that is not the Mon that I’m used to seeing.”
She added that her fellow crew members shared a similar sentiment, as they all realized what they were looking at simultaneously.
“That is the dark side. That is something we have never seen before,” Koch explained.
Even just looking at Earth from above is enough to leave anyone’s mouth agape, and looking at recent photos captured by an iPhone 17 Pro on board the Orion spacecraft are awe inspiring in multiple ways.
They haven’t forgotten the human aspects of the mission either, as balancing the wonders of space with the necessities of living has been a point of amusement for Koch.
Artemis astronauts were able to see the Earth’s ‘dark side’ and the Moon in full daylight at a certain point during the trip (NASA)
“Being human up here is one of the coolest things about this mission. We are just people trying to get by,” she noted. “For example, we might go look at the far side of the Moon and take in its awesomeness and then go, ‘Hm, maybe I should change my socks,’ and try to dig around for a pair of socks. So this is the dichotomy of human spaceflight.”
One fascinating phenomenon that also emerged from the timing of their time in space is the level of light shared between the Earth and Moon, which Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman illustrated:
“The Earth is almost in full eclipse. The Moon is almost in full daylight, and the only way you could get that view is to be halfway between the two entities.”