All eyes are on the lunar flyby by Artemis II astronauts on Monday, April 6 (local time). These will be the most pivotal moments of the mission as the astronauts set a record for the farthest anyone has ever traveled from Earth.
Why is Monday’s Artemis II flyby of the moon important? NASA explains
On Flight Day 3, NASA reported that the Artemis II crew “is now closer to the Moon than Earth” and a lunar flyby is expected to be the next achievement.
It will be the first time in more than 50 years that astronauts on a NASA mission will fly around the moon after successfully completing the key burn of Orion’s main engine.
During the lunar flyby, which should last about six hours, human eyes will see parts of the moon that no one has seen before.
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“It also re-commits us to explore the solar system in a way that we haven’t done in a long time,” Artemis II visualization supervisor Ernie Wright explains in the video.
A NASA official said at a news conference late Friday that the flyby was important because “the whole goal is to get back to the moon” and “being able to see the surface of the moon with human eyes is a huge milestone.”
NASA has said time and time again that the motive is not just to land on the moon, but to stay there. “And so, this is the first step towards that. Of course we’re going to build on that. We’re going to look at the moon, kind of map it, and then we’re going to continue to go back and in force,” the official said.
Another official said, “We’re building a transportation system, and to have a reliable and robust transportation system, you have to test the air transportation system. And I think that’s really important.”
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“On Artemis I, we’ve demonstrated unmanned capabilities. We’ve added a very important aspect to that, which is crew capability. And that crew capability allows us to really understand how and when we have people in the cabin, how the systems work and the adjustments we need to make,” he said.
“Part of what we do is the technical aspects and what we learn from traveling around the moon,” they added.
At a March 29 news conference, NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Artemis II mission specialist, said that seeing the moon as it will actually look through our eyes, the Orion windows — “That’s something we’re all really looking forward to.”
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What happens during a flyby of the moon?
The Artemis II crew will come closest to the moon on April 6, traveling farthest from Earth.
1. What will the astronauts see? They will see the entire lunar disk, including areas closer to both the north and south poles that the Apollo astronauts never saw. But it all depends on the lighting.
“Visible objects on the far side will include several never before seen with the naked eye, such as the entire Orientale Basin, Pierazzo Crater, and Ohm Crater,” NASA said.
This visualization traces the possible trajectory of the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis II mission and shows what the astronauts might see from the window as they approach the moon and fly past its far side.
Ernie Wright said that the center of Orientale is covered with a kind of dark basaltic lava like the dark spots we see on the adjacent side. It is one of the largest that is more on the far side than the near side.
“So seeing it with human eyes and picking out features that you might not even see in robotic cameras is an important goal of the mission,” he added.
2. How much of the Moon’s surface will be visible? The lunar far side will only be partially illuminated during the flyby.
NASA explains that during the six-hour science observation of the moon, the sun, moon and Orion spacecraft will be aligned so that the crew will see about 20 percent of the far side of the moon, the hemisphere not visible from Earth, illuminated by the sun.
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However, the conditions should create shadows that stretch across the surface, “enhancing relief and revealing depth, ridges, slopes and crater rims that are often difficult to detect in full lighting.”
3. How close will astronauts get during a lunar flyby? The crew will come within 4,000 to 6,000 miles of the lunar surface as it swings around the far side of the moon — NASA says it should be looking at them about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length.
Artemis II visualization supervisor Ernie Wright simulated views of the flyby using detailed topographical maps of the lunar terrain and photorealistic lighting scenarios. Here is the video:
4. What will the astronauts do? Twill observe the lunar surface, monitor craters and make observations.
They will take high-resolution photos and provide their own observations of the lunar surface, including areas of the far side of the moon that humans have not seen directly.
Why study the Moon?
Studying the Moon itself is important to astronomers and scientists – who are racing against time to study the universe and the origins of our solar system.
Artemis II visualization supervisor Ernie Wright said the moon is really all about its shape, and the shape tells you something about its long history and the history of the entire solar system.
He further explains that all the things that happened
Earth has been wiped out by geological processes, weather and climate, and that doesn’t happen on the moon.
“The moon has recorded everything that has happened since its formation almost 4.5 billion years ago,” he said, adding: “That tells us a lot about where we came from, where the solar system came from.”
“It also reveals something about the composition of the Earth that we can’t see because it’s buried under the crust. Some of it is on the surface of the Moon because it’s been gouged out by all the impacts,” he added.
Why is Artemis II important?
Artemis is humanity’s return to the moon after 50 years.
“The focus of Artemis will be on science first. But secondly on learning to maintain a presence on another world — and that’s ultimately a stepping stone to Mars and other destinations in the solar system,” Wright says.
Artemis II is a test flight to learn more about the technology that has been developed for lunar missions since the days of Apollo.
