Blackouts, broken records and a message from the past: five key moments from Artemis II’s lunar flyby

Blackouts, broken records and a message from the past: five key moments from Artemis II’s lunar flyby Crew of Orion capsule spent emotional day documenting surface of moon – and paying homage to astronauts who paved the way Artemis II sets new record as astronauts travel farther from Earth than ever before O n the sixth day of a lunar mission that has rekindled global interest in space exploration and reinvigorated Nasa’s aims to return to the moon , the astronauts of Artemis II flew further from Earth than any human before them. Across a six-hour flyby , the crew of the Orion capsule captured views of the moon’s far side that have never been seen before – while honouring the astronauts who paved the way for their record-breaking mission. Here are some key moments from the day: Some peaks were so bright, the pilot Victor Glover, that they looked as if they were covered in snow. Mission specialist Christina Koch described lunar craters as looking like a “lampshade with tiny pinprick holes and the light shining through”. Besides photographing the scenes with high-powered Nikon cameras, the astronauts also used their iPhones for impromptu shots. The crew are expected to return with thousands of pictures – among them, the Apollo 12 and 14 landing sites from 1969 and 1971, as well as fringes of the south polar region, the preferred location for a future touchdown. 3. ‘We will see you on the other side’ Hours after the Artemis crew set their distance record, the capsule passed across the far side of the moon, starting a communications blackout that lasted about 40 minutes. “We will see you on the other side,” said Glover, minutes before the connection was lost. During the blackout, the craft made its closest approach to the moon and reached its maximum distance from Earth. Astronomy professor Derek Buzasi cast the astronauts’ period of solitude as “exciting, in a slightly scary way,” recalling that the same thing would happen during the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70...