Artemis II crew capture new photo of far side of the moon
CBS News • • general
Key Points:
- NASA's Artemis II crew captured a new photo of the far side of the moon, showing the Orientale basin in full for the first time ever seen by humans, with the moon oriented upside down and its South Pole facing upward.
- The four-person Orion spacecraft crew, including commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialists Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen, will continue to study the Orientale basin from multiple angles during their lunar flyby.
- Artemis II, launched from Cape Canaveral last week, is the first piloted moon mission since Apollo and serves as a test flight to prepare for future astronaut returns to the moon, with a primary goal of gathering extensive data and conducting science experiments.
- On Sunday, the crew was about 64,000 miles from the moon and preparing to enter the lunar sphere of influence, where the moon's gravity overtakes Earth's pull, while also planning to test spacesuits and perform other flight tests.
- NASA will provide a televised mission briefing from the Johnson Space Center Sunday evening, as Artemis II continues its journey and data collection ahead of the Artemis III mission scheduled for next year.
