As Artemis II zooms to the Moon, everything seems to be going swimmingly

Flying to luna As Artemis II zooms to the Moon, everything seems to be going swimmingly The cabin was colder on Thursday, but the crew has been able to adjust the temperature. 138 Reid Wiseman took this image of planet Earth from Orion. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman Reid Wiseman took this image of plane

Space·April 5, 2026·3 min read

The Lead

As Artemis II zooms to the Moon, everything seems to be going swimmingly. Flying to luna As Artemis II zooms to the Moon, everything seems to be going swimmingly The cabin was colder on Thursday, but the crew has been able to adjust the temperature. 138 Reid Wiseman took this image of planet Earth from Orion. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman Reid Wiseman took this image of planet Earth from Orion. Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav As the Artemis II lunar mission moved into its third day on Friday, and with the spacecraft’s big engine firing behind it, the four astronauts.

Key Details

They held medical conferences with physicians back in Houston, although these were apparently routine since none of the crew members were experiencing space adaptation sickness. And they had some time to take pictures. Wiseman, the mission’s commander, sent a particularly spectacular image on Friday morning that showed our planet’s night side (with a relatively long exposure). Among the beautiful details in this image were not one but two auroras, as well as zodiacal light in the bottom right of the.

Context

They will make their closest approach on Monday afternoon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southern California, on Friday, April 10. Because that engine firing was so successful, NASA waved off the opportunity to perform a “corrective” burn on Friday. During their daily briefing with reporters, NASA officials had almost no issues of any significance to report. Howard Hu, the program manager for Orion, said NASA was tracking an issue with the helium system that.

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However, Hu said, these are not at all a threat to the crew but rather reflect conservative limits set for those systems. He characterized this as a “learning” that will be adjusted for the Artemis III mission, which could take flight next year. The only other real issue experienced by the crew has been cabin temperatures, which were described by the astronauts as a little chilly overnight. One of the mission’s flight directors, Judd Frieling, said the crew started off.