Artemis II astronauts to set distance record with moon flyby

Artemis II is more than 245,400 miles from Earth, and less than 18,400 miles from the moon, NASA's real-time tracker showed late Monday morning. 

The tracker's latest update shows the Orion spacecraft speeding toward the moon at a velocity of 1,147 miles per hour. At this point, Earth looks like a dark sphere hovering behind it.

This image from NASA shows the location of the Orion spacecraft relative to the Earth and moon late Monday morning.  NASA

NASA said Monday morning that the Artemis II crew is awake and preparing for the lunar flyby.

"Morning routine: Wake up, shave, make the bed, witness something that's never before been seen by human eyes," the agency posted on X. "The Artemis II crew is preparing for today's lunar flyby, when they will see the Moon's far side."

The astronauts woke up 18,830 miles from the moon, to sounds of "Good Morning" by Mandisa and TobyMac.

NASA posted on X at 10:35 a.m. ET. The crew had been scheduled to wake up at 10:50.

NASA predicts the Artemis II will lose contact with Mission Control for about 40 minutes during the lunar flyby Monday evening. Planned communication outages like this "are sometimes welcome" for both Mission Control and astronaut crews, retired NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Cassidy told CBS News.

"Mission Control, they'll be dialed in making sure everything is perfect right before the moment of communication loss," Cassidy said, adding that once that moment comes, "those folks can take a break" while the Artemis II crew has a rare opportunity to be completely present on their flight.

"They'll know that they are the only eyes watching the safety of this vehicle, and they'll feel the onus of that responsibility all while they're looking out the window," he said. "Those are the moments where they're going to be the closest, and they can take those photos."

While communications are down, the crew is to make their closest approach to the moon, and to set a new record for the farthest distance traveled from our planet. They are also expected to see Earthset, when Earth appears to sink beneath the moon's horizon. 

In a radio message to Mission Control early Monday morning, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman described the crew's excitement as he reflected on the view from the Orion spacecraft.

"The four of us have looked at this our entire lives. And the way we are responding to what we're seeing out the window, it's just like we're a bunch of little kids up here," Wiseman said. "We cannot get enough of this. It's amazing. Thank you for the privilege." 

NASA released an image that was taken Monday showing the moon through the window of the Orion spacecraft as the Artemis II crew drew closer.

The image was taken by the crew before they went to sleep on the fifth day of their journey.

NASA said the crew "entered the lunar sphere of influence" at 12:37 a.m. ET Monday, marking the point at which the moon's gravity had a stronger pull on them than the Earth's.  

Before going to sleep on Day 5 of their mission (April 6) the Artemis II crew snapped one more photo of the moon as it drew close in the window of the Orion spacecraft.  NASA

The Artemis II crew is scheduled to wake up at 10:50 a.m. ET Monday, hours before they are expected to break a distance record and conduct a lunar flyby.

After reviewing details of the flyby during a briefing with Mission Control at 1:30 pm ET, the crew is set to make history when they reach 248,655 miles from Earth 26 minutes later, and keep going. That is the record set by Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert aboard Apollo 13 on April 15, 1970. 

The moon flyby will then begin at 2:45 p.m. Artemis II will observe both the near and far sides of the moon, ultimately making its closest approach — at 4,070 miles from the surface — at around 7 p.m. 

At that distance, NASA said the moon "will appear to the astronauts about the size of a basketball held at arm's length." They may become the first humans to see portions of the far side with an unaided eye, according to the agency.

Minutes later, the crew will reach their maximum distance from Earth: 252,760 miles. 

They'll also witness "Earthrise" and try to recreate the famous Apollo 8 photo that coined that name, as well as an hour-long solar eclipse. The flyby is due to end at 9:20 p.m.

NASA on Sunday released an image of the far side of the moon that the Artemis II crew captured the day before — the fourth day of the astronauts' journey.

The moon in the image is oriented upside down, with its South Pole facing upward and parts of its far side visible, according to NASA. The Orientale basin, a massive crater that's hard to see from Earth, is situated along the right edge of the moon in the picture, NASA said, adding that the Artemis II voyage marks the first time humans have ever seen the basin in full.

The Artemis II crew captured a new image of the far side of the moon on Day 4 of their lunar flight. NASA

The Orientale basin will be an ongoing subject of study for members of the Orion spacecraft's four-person crew, which includes commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

Read more here.

Artemis II astronauts took time on Sunday to send Easter greetings to Earth, and had their own version of an egg hunt.

Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch said the crew had hidden eggs around the cabin to mark the holiday. "They were the dehydrated scrambled egg variety," she said, "but we're all pretty happy with them."

Overnight Saturday, Koch said the crew had switched from measuring their increasing distance from Earth to tracking their decreasing distance to the moon. The trip around the moon so far has yielded unexpected detail on its surface, giving scientists a taste of things to come when they pass over the lunar far side Monday.

Read more here.