As Artemis II closed on the moon over Easter weekend, the four-person crew said the view of Earth shrinking behind them and the lunar surface growing ahead was profoundly moving — a sight only a handful of humans have seen.
Pilot Victor Glover described the approach as a reminder of “the beauty of creation,” calling Earth an oasis amid vast emptiness and urging people to appreciate their place in the cosmos. Commander Reid Wiseman, Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen joined hands as they took in the scene. Koch said seeing Earth alone in the window stirred a deep gratitude; Wiseman reported high morale, sunlight streaming through the windows and a thin crescent of Earth sparkling with ocean and clouds.
From Mission Control at Johnson Space Center, spacecraft communicator Jacki Mahaffey told the crew they were, as of 30 seconds earlier, closer to the moon than to Earth. Telemetry cited by the team put them roughly 118,000 nautical miles from the moon as they enjoyed views through Orion’s docking hatch.
Orion is on schedule to loop behind the far side of the moon Monday evening before beginning the return trip. The planned far-side pass will take them about 4,100 miles above the lunar surface, with close approach expected at 7:03 p.m. EDT. Although orbiters and satellites have mapped the far side in detail, NASA officials say this will be a rare opportunity for human-led observation. Kelsey Young, a lunar researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, noted that the crew’s months of training should let them collect useful scientific observations as they near the moon.
Overall spacecraft performance has been strong. A planned trajectory correction burn was canceled for a second day after engineers determined Orion remained on a near‑perfect path. Wiseman and Glover will take turns manually piloting the vehicle to give engineers data on in‑flight handling and to refine procedures for future Artemis missions. The crew also plans to review video and camera mapping strategies for the lunar far side.
The mission’s most publicized snag has been intermittent problems with the onboard toilet. Flight controllers have periodically instructed the crew to use contingency collapsible urinals (CCUs) — reusable, sealable containers for urine that can be vented to space later — when the toilet could not be relied upon. Early Saturday controllers were unable to dump stored urine overboard, possibly because a vent line had frozen, so the crew used CCUs while teams assessed the issue.
Controllers later reoriented Orion so sunlight could warm the vent in a “bake out” maneuver intended to thaw any ice. The effort partially succeeded: the vent warmed but the waste tank did not fully empty. Flight Director Judd Frieling said the toilet can handle urine at the moment, but mission managers are keeping tanks only half full until the vent is definitively cleared; the system remains “go” for solid waste. Mission Management Team Chairman John Honeycutt said public attention on the toilet is understandable — it’s important on Earth and harder to manage in space — and emphasized that the crew is trained for such contingencies.
Veteran astronaut Don Pettit explained on social media that a CCU works by controlling the urine–air interface with capillary forces and serves as a lightweight alternative to carrying large amounts of absorbent materials. Despite the plumbing challenge, the crew reported high spirits, spectacular views and a steady focus on both human and scientific goals as they continue toward the moon and back.