By: Gowri Sunil

News Editor

For the first time in 53 years, NASA safely sent humans to the moon and back to Earth. On Apr. 1, NASA’s Artemis II mission launched for a ten-day journey with hopes to explore deep space conditions and record data about the moon’s formation and evolution. 

The crew was composed of the following members: Reid Wiseman, who was the mission’s commander; Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the two mission specialists; and Victor Glover, the pilot. Wiseman, Koch, and Glover are all NASA astronauts; Hansen comes from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The spacecraft covered 252,756 miles in outer space and set a record for being the farthest any crew has been from Earth, breaking the previous record set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. The crew was also able to see the dark side of the moon, which is the only part that cannot be viewed from Earth. When orbiting this side of the moon, the crew experienced a 40-minute blackout during which their communication radio signals were blocked due to the moon’s positioning. While orbiting, the astronauts took over 7,000 pictures of the moon, including its terrain, ancient lava flows, old basins, and much more, which helped scientists better understand the evolution of the moon. 

Generally, re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere is usually very dangerous as temperatures may reach up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. On top of that, a crack formed on a part of the heat shield of the Orion capsule during uncrewed tests. Both of these concerns led NASA to make some adjustments in the re-entry path, allowing for a safer return. 

In addition to providing photo data, the crew also helped test for human life in the deep sea environment, which is the unexplored area beyond the Moon. In the Orion spacecraft, the astronauts tested its life support systems and manual piloting, and they also ran experiments for the human body’s response to the deep space environment to provide data for future longer missions. Commemorating years of international teamwork, NASA’s Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya declared that, “This moment belongs to the thousands of people across fourteen countries who built, tested, and trusted this vehicle. Their work protected four human lives traveling at 25,000 miles per hour and brought them safely back to Earth.”

NASA has already begun planning its next two missions, Artemis III and IV, following the successful Artemis II mission. NASA plans to launch the upcoming missions in 2027 and 2028, respectively, and Artemis IV is expected to complete the first human landing on the moon since 1972. With the substantial information collected from the Artemis missions, NASA hopes to create a permanent base on the moon and support future Mars exploration. 

(Sources: NASA, NBC News)