The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission captured a new photo of the far side of the moon on Saturday, the fourth day of their lunar journey, and NASA released the image on Sunday. The moon appears upside down in the photo, with its South Pole facing upward and parts of the far side visible. The Orientale basin, a massive crater difficult to see from Earth, sits along the right edge of the image — and Artemis II marks the first time humans have seen the basin in full.
The Orientale basin will be an ongoing focus for the Orion spacecraft’s four-person crew: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. “The Artemis II crew will continue to observe Orientale from multiple angles as they approach the Moon and throughout the lunar flyby,” NASA said, noting the basin can serve as a baseline to compare impact craters across the solar system.
Artemis II launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, last week in the first piloted moonshot since the Apollo program more than 50 years ago. The mission is a test flight intended to gather observations and systems data to prepare for future crewed lunar missions. On “Face the Nation,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized collecting data and learning about Orion as priority goals ahead of Artemis III.
On Sunday, Artemis II was about 64,000 miles from the moon. A mission update said the crew woke for the fifth day to the song “Working Class Heroes (Work)” by CeeLo Green, and a flight controller in mission control was briefly seen dancing to the wakeup call. Later Sunday, the spacecraft was due to enter the lunar sphere of influence, where the moon’s gravity dominates Earth’s. The crew planned a full day of spacesuit tests and other flight checks as they approached the moon. Early Monday, NASA confirmed Artemis II officially entered the lunar sphere of influence at 12:38 a.m. EDT.
Miles Doran contributed to this report.