Tag: Moon
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The Moon is already on Google Maps—did Artemis II really tell us anything new?
The data pipeline from NASA’s Artemis II mission opened to full blast a few hours after looping behind the far side of the Moon on Monday night, when the Orion spacecraft established a laser communications link with a receiving station back on Earth. A cache of high-resolution images began streaming down through this connection. NASA…
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Finally, Artemis delivers some exceptional, high-quality photos of the Moon
NASA’s Artemis II mission, carrying four astronauts on an out-of-this-world journey, flew around the Moon on Monday. The crew members took turns describing the stunning landscape below and captured images of Earth rising behind the Moon, in communications with Mission Control in Houston. What they did not send back in real time, due to a…
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Earthset and eclipse, oh my! NASA releases magnificent images from Artemis mission’s moon flyby
A crescent Earth sinks behind the moon’s disk in a wide-angle version of the Artemis 2 crew’s “Earthset” picture. (NASA Photo) A day after the Artemis 2 mission’s historic lunar flyby, NASA has released a stunning set of high-resolution images documenting Earthset and Earthrise, a solar eclipse that set the moon aglow, and other views…
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Astronauts set distance record, revealing the Moon as a place to be explored
After staring at the Moon for almost eight hours Monday, the commander of NASA’s Artemis II mission finally ran out of ways to describe what he was seeing. “No matter how long we look at this, our brains are not processing this image in front of us. It is absolutely spectacular, surreal,” said Reid Wiseman,…
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‘Moon joy!’ Artemis 2’s crew sets a distance record, documents lunar far side and heads back toward Earth
NASA’s Artemis 2 crew captured an iconic “Earthset” picture, showing Earth dipping beneath the lunar horizon. (NASA Photo) Four astronauts today became the first humans to make a trip around the moon since the Apollo era — and added new pages to history books for the Artemis era. The Artemis 2 crew reached a maximum distance of…
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Artemis II breaks record, conducts lunar flyby
Orion spacecraft Integrity, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, successfully passed behind the Moon on Flight Day 6 of the Artemis II mission, losing communications with Earth for approximately 40 minutes while the crew observed spectacular, never-before-seen views of the lunar surface with human eyes. The milestone moment also included…
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Orion Spacecraft Races Toward Historic Lunar Flyby in Artemis II Mission
As NASA’s Artemis II mission enters its critical mid-flight phase, the Orion spacecraft—carrying the first crewed mission beyond low-Earth orbit in more than half a century—is steadily heading toward the Moon for a precisely timed lunar flyby on Monday, April 6. Launched on April 1, 2026, aboard SLS from KSC’s 39B, the four-person crew has…
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Artemis II Orion performs TLI Burn — Now headed to the Moon
In a historic milestone more than 50 years in the making, NASA’s Orion spacecraft Integrity has successfully performed its trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn, departing its high elliptical Earth orbit and setting course for the Moon. The roughly six-minute firing of the European Service Module’s AJ10 engine accelerated the crew of four—NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander),…
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‘Let’s go!’ NASA launches humanity’s first moon voyage in nearly 54 years
NASA’s Space Launch System rises from its Florida launch pad, sending the Artemis 2 crew into orbit. (NASA via YouTube) After years of postponements and close to $100 billion in spending, NASA has launched the first mission to send astronauts around the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day Artemis 2 mission began today…
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Artemis II returns humanity to the Moon with launch on Wednesday evening
At 23:35 UTC on Dec. 16, 1972, the Apollo 17 command module, America, successfully completed its trans-Earth injection burn, sending it and its crew of NASA astronauts Gene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans on a return trajectory back to Earth. The moment marked the final time a crewed Apollo spacecraft was in orbit around…