All articles tagged with #artemis 2
Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen captured a stunning view of swirling stars from the Orion capsule during NASA’s 10-day lunar flyaround aboard the spacecraft Integrity, a shot that highlights the program's goal of returning humans to the Moon and establishing a longer-term lunar presence (the crew splashed down on April 10).
NSF's Green Bank Telescope tracked NASA's Artemis 2 Orion capsule around the Moon for five days from more than 213,000 miles away, delivering distance and Doppler measurements that matched NASA projections to about 0.2 millimeters per second and producing a pixelated image of the spacecraft with a scientist noting “there are four people in those pixels.” The observations illustrate how a giant radio telescope can assist future space missions and radar-related efforts, highlighting the Green Bank Telescope’s role as the largest moving structure on land.
A new timelapse from NASA’s Artemis 2 archive showcases Earth in both day and night views, satellites, and auroras captured by the crew during their lunar flyby. The video compiles about 12,000 photos released from the mission, which launched April 1 and returned April 10 with four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—marking the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17. The footage highlights Earth from behind the Moon, including an ‘Earthset’ shot, and underscores Artemis’ broader plan to return humans to the Moon in upcoming missions Artemis 3 and 4.
Artemis 2 astronauts observed brief meteoroid impact flashes on the Moon’s far side with the naked eye, a rare sight that yields data on how often such impacts occur, the craters they create, and how shock waves travel through the lunar interior. The sightings bolster ongoing citizen science efforts and NASA data collection, with crew imagery and transcripts to be released publicly to aid lunar science and future outpost planning like Artemis Base Camp.
Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman joined forces with astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy to photograph the Moon’s far side, using Wiseman’s onboard camera bursts and McCarthy’s stacking technique to pull out mineral colors and surface details that a single shot can’t capture. The resulting images reveal color differences—blue-tinted titanium-rich basalts and other minerals—by reducing noise through stacked exposures, effectively giving the Moon “cyborg eyes.” McCarthy plans more edits from the mission’s data, building on NASA’s trove of Artemis 2 imagery.
Space.com’s Space Photo of the Day shows NASA’s Artemis 2 Orion capsule charred at Kennedy Space Center after its 10‑day lunar mission, highlighting a reentry temperature near 5,000°F. The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—returned to Earth with a Pacific splashdown on April 10, and NASA will study the heat shield’s performance to inform Artemis 3.
NASA released a massive photo dump of over 12,000 images from Artemis 2, the first crewed lunar flyby, captured by astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Gizmodo spotlights photos of Earth from space, the Moon’s craters, a solar eclipse, and long-exposure star fields. The full dataset and preliminary mission reports are due in October and are already accessible on NASA’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, which makes sorting through the gallery an immersive but lengthy task.
NASA has released 12,217 Artemis 2 photos in its public archive, offering a front-row view of the mission around the Moon. The shots include Earth glimpsed from Orion’s far side, a six-second star-trail exposure, and lunar-surface details described by the crew as browns and greens, plus two named craters, Integrity and Carroll. The Artemis 2 crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—launched on April 1 for a 10-day lunar flyby, reaching a maximum distance of about 252,760 miles (406,773 km) from Earth. Data were initially limited via transmission; NASA recovered most images from the mission’s SD cards after splashdown April 10 and is now sharing them publicly.
President Trump hosted Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, along with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, in the White House Oval Office for a livestreamed greeting, praising their historic Moon flyby and joking about joining a future flight; Artemis 2’s lunar loop—launched April 1 and returned April 10—marked the first time humans left Earth orbit since Apollo 17 and the farthest distance from Earth to date, as reporters pressed on UFO declassification and NASA’s broader moon program and budget context.
NASA’s Artemis 2 heat shield was photographed underwater after the Orion capsule’s splashdown off San Diego on April 10, 2026. The scorched tiles endured reentry temperatures near 5,000°F (about 2,800°C), and divers captured images of the heat shield as the capsule is prepared for return to Kennedy Space Center for further study ahead of Artemis 3.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who orbited the Moon on Artemis 2, struggles to walk on Earth in a video as her brain re-acclimates to gravity; experts note that long exposure to microgravity disrupts the vestibular system, so astronauts rely on visual cues to balance and may remain unsteady for days after return.
Navy divers underwater photos of Artemis 2’s splashdown offer a rare view of the Orion capsule’s heat shield in action; early analysis suggests the heat shield performed well and the ceramic tiles held up, with airborne imagery also aiding review. NASA says minimal char loss was observed and the data will inform checks ahead of Artemis 3 in 2028, as NASA faces broader program challenges highlighted by a Blue Origin setback with its New Glenn rocket.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch describes her postflight recovery after Artemis II, recounting a wobble during a blindfold balance test and highlighting how microgravity disrupts balance, proprioception, and early readaptation. Her roughly 10-day Moon mission—alongside Artemis II crewmates Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen—is being monitored to study recovery, with NASA-backed countermeasures (exercise gear, diet, supplements) and mental health support helping astronauts readjust to Earth as scientists track short- and long-term physiological changes.
Space.com highlights iconic Earth-from-space imagery across decades, tracing views from Apollo 8’s Earthrise and Voyager’s Pale Blue Dot to Artemis 2’s Earthset, and sharing astronauts’ reflections on seeing our planet from lunar distance while NASA coverage and related Earth Day features celebrate Earth’s beauty and fragility.
Four U.S. Navy dive-medical technicians aboard the USS John P. Murtha greeted NASA’s Artemis 2 astronauts after their splashdown, becoming the first people to enter NASA’s Orion capsule at sea to perform medical checks and help the crew exit the spacecraft, as the four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—were stabilized on a recovery platform; the team trained extensively with Orion mockups, marking a new phase in Artemis recoveries.