Astronauts on board NASA’s Artemis 2 mission have glimpsed the Moon’s “Grand Canyon” for the first time with “human eyes”.
As the four astronauts began their fifth day of the historic 10-day lunar fly-by mission on Sunday, the US space agency shared a photo on social media showing the Moon with the Orientale basin visible.
“History in the making,” NASA wrote early on Sunday.
“In this new image from our @NASAArtemis II crew, you can see Orientale basin on the right edge of the lunar disk. This mission marks the first time the entire basin has been seen with human eyes.”
The massive crater, which resembles a bullseye, had been photographed before by orbiting cameras.
Astronaut Christina Koch, speaking to Canadian children live from space, said the crew was most excited to see the basin — sometimes known as the Moon’s “Grand Canyon”.
“It’s very distinctive and no human eyes previously had seen this crater until today, really, when we were privileged enough to see it,” Koch said during the question-and-answer session hosted by the Canadian Space Agency.
Former astronaut Charlie Duke, who walked on the Moon in 1972 as part of the Apollo 16 mission, gave the ceremonial wakeup call to the crew on Sunday.
“Below you on the Moon is a photo of my family,” the 90-year-old said.
“I pray it reminds you that we in America and all of the world are cheering you on. Thanks to you and the whole team on the ground for building on our Apollo legacy with Artemis.”
If all proceeds smoothly, as the Orion spacecraft whips around the Moon the astronauts — Americans Koch, Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen — could set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.
In an Easter message, Koch said the crew celebrated by hiding eggs around the spacecraft cabin — of the “dehydrated scrambled egg variety”.
“We wanted to take a minute to commemorate the holiday that we have at this time of year, something that many religions and many cultures hold dear,” she said. “It’s a time of emotions such as joy, as well as solemnness, honouring what’s going on both in our world and in our religious beliefs.”
Hansen also shared an Easter message, telling followers that “on this day and no matter your faith or religion, for me the teachings of Jesus were always a very simple truth of love, universal love”.
The next major milestone is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, at which point the astronauts will enter the “lunar sphere of influence”, where the Moon’s gravity will have stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s.
NASA said the Artemis crew has completed a manual piloting demonstration and reviewed their lunar fly-by plan, including reviewing the surface features they must analyse and photograph during their time circling the Moon.
“We’re focusing very much on the ecosystem, the life support system of the spacecraft,” NASA chief Jared Isaacman said Sunday in a televised interview with CNN.
“This is the first time astronauts have ever flown on this spacecraft before. That’s what we’re most interested in getting data from.”
Speaking separately to Fox News, Isaacman said the success of the mission would not be possible “if it wasn’t for President Trump”.
“I want to be incredibly clear, we would not be at this moment right now with Artemis II if it wasn’t for President Trump,” he said.
“And we certainly would not have an achievable path now to get back to the lunar surface and build that enduring presence.
“On my first day on the job during President Trump’s second term, he gave us a national space policy, a mandate to go to the moon with frequency, build the moon base, and do the other things like nuclear power and propulsion so someday American astronauts can plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars.”
On the schedule for day five, according to NASA, is testing of the astronauts’ “survival” suits.
The bright orange suits are worn during takeoff and re-entry, but also emergency situations, such as cabin depressurisation.
The crew “will conduct a full sequence of suit operations, including putting on and pressurising their suits, performing leak checks, simulating seat entry, and assessing mobility and their ability to eat and drink,” NASA said.
While the four astronauts will not touch down on the lunar surface, they are expected to break the record for the farthest distance from Earth during their pass around the Moon.
Over the next day, “they will be on the far side of the Moon, they will eclipse that record, and we’re going to learn an awful lot about the spacecraft”, said Isaacman.
The information will be “pretty paramount to set up for subsequent missions like Artemis 3 in 2027 and, of course, the lunar landing itself on Artemis 4 in 2028”.
Later on Sunday, NASA shared another photo showing the view of the Earth through the window of the Orion spacecraft, the planet appearing tiny in the distance with only a thin crescent illuminated.
“One last look at Earth before we reach the Moon,” the post read.
“This view of the Earth was captured on April 5, the fourth day of the Artemis II mission, from inside the Orion spacecraft. The four astronauts will reach their closest approach of the Moon tomorrow, April 6.”
An earlier photo taken from closer above the Earth showed Australia covered in clouds, with Cyclone Maila clearly visible.
“A match for independent weather satellite imagery,” one social media user commented. “Deniers in shambles.”
The Orion spacecraft is now around 360,350km from Earth and 84,640km from the Moon, according to NASA’s online dashboard.
The mission hasn’t been without hiccups so far.
Within hours of the launch, the crew delivered a troubling message back to Earth reporting that the toilet fan appeared to be “jammed”.
Hailed as a leap forward in deep space toilet technology, the $US30 million ($43.4 million) Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) on Orion took years to develop, designed in response to longstanding complaints from astronauts about on-board amenities on past missions.
Luckily a few hours later, flight controllers walked Koch through how to fix the toilet.
