Apr 07, 2026
3 min read
The crew of Artemis 2 made history last night with their lunar mission and have already started their journey back to our planet.Monday is the actual day of this mission...
- Where are the Artemis 2 astronauts?NASA's instrument enables real-time monitoring of the Orion spacecraft.
- Rise.An adorable mission mascot that acts as a zero-gravity indicator:
- Madrid technology goes to the Moon "It is the first time that NASA entrusts the critical systems of its ship to a Spanish company"
Artemis 2 astronauts made history last night with their lunar adventure and have begun their journey back to our planet.
Monday was a defining day for this NASA mission, when the Orion spacecraft flew past our moon.It was a seven-hour period of observation, which four crew members - three Americans and one Canadian - spent according to the plan. They became the farthest people from Earth and were the first to see with the naked eye some parts of the hidden face, the most mysterious part, because we cannot see it from Earth.They even saw an impressive solar eclipse.
19:56. In Spain, when commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen broke the record of the crew of the Apollo 13 mission that fell in 1970. Then James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Hayes were 400,171 km from our planet. A few hours later, Artemis-2 added another 6,600 km, reaching the farthest point of this mission from our planet, so the history books will record that it is far from Earth406,771 kilometers, as determined by NASA Director Jared Isaacman.
"Before departure, our astronauts said they hoped this message would be forgotten, but it will be remembered as a moment when people began to believe that the United States can once again do the impossible and change the world," said Isaacman, who congratulated the international and commercial partners who make the return to our satellite possible.Despite his joy, he recalled that "this message will not be finished until the ship docks in the Pacific Ocean" the following Friday night (Saturday morning in Spain).
For Lori Glass, one of the people in charge of the mission, the dedication goes beyond breaking the record: "This time, it includes a commitment to go back to the moon while we build the lunar base."
From the cockpit of Integrity [Integrity, the name chosen by the astronauts for this Orion spacecraft], Jeremy Hansen, the first non-American citizen to walk on the moon, spoke of astronauts past and future: "Here, as we overcome the greatest distance humans have traveled, we honor our planet from Earth and Earth. Exploration," he solemnly declared.To challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record doesn't stand for long," he said, recalling the real purpose of the test mission: to pave the way for humans to go back to the moon, build a base and prepare for a jump to Mars.
Five days after its spectacular launch in Florida, the Orion spacecraft returned humans to the moon's orbit after more than half a century to observe it from above, from a distance from its closest approach of 6,550 kilometers.
Artemis 2 did not land on the moon because the goal is to test the ship and the system for future landings, which will not be before 2028. If the plans outlined by Donald Trump in his first speech will be fulfilled, we will see astronauts walking on the moon again in 2024.
Despite the delay - 2028 is still, for many experts, an overly optimistic date - NASA made an effort and managed to excite the world with this test flight, highlighting the milestones and records achieved.During the flight around the moon, these four astronauts - among them the first woman and the first black astronaut to go to the moon - were also the first people to see with the naked eye some areas of the mysterious hidden place.
China remains, however, the only country to have successfully sent a robot to the side of the Moon not visible from Earth, and may bring it back to Earth in 2024 with the Chang'e-6 robotic spacecraft, a milestone in space exploration.Today, the United States and China are competing to be the first to set foot on the moon and build a permanent home, in the case of an Asian giant, along with the Russians.
A pit named after the commander's wife
Last night's leg of the NASA mission, like the entire journey, was full of symbolism and emotional moments.This will make the Americans fight against the Chinese.One of the most moving events was the announcement that Commander Reed Wiseman, who died of cancer in 2020, proposed naming a lunar crater after Carol Taylor Wiseman.coming," said Jeremy Hansen. Wiseman, 50, a single parent since becoming a widower, broke down in tears.
They proposed that another crater, Integrity, be named after the ship.
Victor Glover, for his part, took the opportunity to make a declaration of love to his wife when he read the report sent to the control center and saw that she was following the Houston mission: "Hey baby, I love you from the moon.I'm glad you're there," said the Artemis 2 pilot.
Coincidentally, Jim Lovell, the legendary Apollo 8 and 13 astronaut who died in 2025 at the age of 97, also named a hole after his wife Marilyn in 1968.
The Apollo 8 mission is on Artemis 2 because, as Christina Koch admits, they are very important.Even the mascot, Rise, a stuffed animal that functions as a zero-gravity demonstration, is based on designs from the iconic Earthrise photo taken by the crew.
Before the flyby, the crew received a special message recorded by Lovell for the long-term mission: "Hello, Artemis 2! I'm Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood! When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I flew aboard Apollo Astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood! When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I flew aboard Apollo Astronaut 8 When the spacecraft orbited the moon, humans observed the moon for the first time and touched the human world perspective. During the close-range mission, humans observed the moon for the first time.
This was good advice, because to say the view they enjoyed from the Orion windows was enviable would be an understatement.They could observe the near and the far side of the moon in turn, and maybe - we will learn in the next days - some areas of the moon discovered.And as NASA explained, "human eyes and brains are very sensitive to subtle changes in color, texture and other surface properties", so "direct observation, together with all the scientific advances made in recent decades, can reveal new discoveries and a deeper understanding of the characteristics of the lunar surface."
Reverse solar eclipse
As the vessel entered the remote country as planned, the control center in Houston temporarily lost contact with the crew at 10 minutes before 1 am.An outage that lasted about 45 minutes."Nice to hear from Earth again," Christina Koch exclaimed when communication was restored.
The observation period ended just before 4 a.m.Tuesday.The icing on the cake was a spectacular solar eclipse that they were able to view after reestablishing communication.It was like a massive solar eclipse with one main difference: the shadow covering the Sun was not on the Moon but on Earth, surrounded by a faint reddish halo.A ring that holds the light of all sunrises and sunsets on the projected planet at once.
None of the Apollo astronauts ever saw this type of total solar eclipse from lunar orbit, because the orbits and calendars of those missions did not coincide with this phenomenon.
First image
They are also expected to bring back high-quality photos they took during their return to Earth, although some of the footage will be downloaded upon their return.
Scientists can't wait to see them, because the far side of the Moon presents a very different landscape than what we see from Earth.While the visible side is filled with vast lunar seas — vast, dark plains formed by ancient volcanic eruptions — the far side is dominated by cratered plateaus.The main reason seems to be geological: the lunar crust is thicker there, which prevented the magma inside it from rising so easily.as on the side facing the Earth.As a result, the surface retains a much higher density of impacts, a kind of natural archive that records billions of years of collisions with asteroids and comets when the Solar System was a much more violent place.
