Apr 05, 2026
3 min read
On the fourth day of the expedition, the Artemis II astronauts got their first full look at the far side of the moon.
Astronauts on Artemis 2 mission see hidden side of Moon: "It's absolutely amazing"
- The crew managed to think directly into the eastern hemisphere of the satellite, something unprecedented
- Artemis II mission logbook.April 4, the fourth day of the trip
Artemis 2 mission log.April 5th, the fifth day of the mission.Two-thirds of the way to the moon, NASA astronauts have a complete view of the hidden side of Earth's natural satellite."This is the first time we've seen the far side of the moon, and it's amazing," U.S. astronaut Christina Koch said in a television interview aboard her Orion spacecraft.
As Koch explained, the Moon's surface seemed "different" to them."It wasn't the moon we were used to, so we looked at our lunar tracking data, compared the images, and said, 'There's a hidden side there. This is something we haven't seen before,'" the astronaut said in an interview.
Therefore, the four astronauts had a direct view of the Moon's hemisphere, which is on the other side of the Earth, a feat only achieved by their predecessors in the Apollo program more than 50 years ago.In this event, they managed to capture "features of the Moon that the human eye could not see until yesterday," as John Honeycutt, the director general of NASA, highlighted at a press conference. "The images taken by the robots only showed this region of the Moon," he explained.
Meanwhile, the Artemis 2 astronauts are two-thirds of the way through their journey and are closer to the Moon than Earth. They have never traveled this far into space before, and they have never seen this image from a satellite.
Tareas cotidianas mientras se preparan para el sobrevuelo lunar de este lunes
Now, 200,000 kilometers from Earth, everything is going well ... except for the Orion spacecraft's bathroom, which has failed again and is having freezing problems.Star workers work, rework, and work every day, something important in the microgravity conditions they control.
They have also spoken about how they rest, as the small space of the capsule in which they travel has attracted public and press attention."We love sleeping up here; it's been such a long day that I think our bodies are ready to sleep no matter what," Koch told NBC.“Most of us slept great,” he added.
Commander Wiseman explained that Koch was sleeping with his head down in the middle of the vehicle."It's like a bat suspended from our docking tunnel," he explained in an interview with ABC.
For now, the mission is already history, and the astronauts are about to complete their final mission of orbiting the moon before returning home.Therefore, the Artemis II mission is intended to lay the groundwork for the next step of installing bases on satellites.
April 4: Fourth day of the mission.
The Artemis mission flew more than 219,000 km from Earth, half way to the Moon."The moon is getting bigger," one of its crew members said at the time.Astronomer Victor Glover from the ship said that after taking pictures and analyzing them in the morning, he found the Grand Canyon of the Moon, called the East Basin.
"We were able to see it [the Moon] in its entirety," he said, emphasizing the fact, "We were able to see it in its entirety, so it's clear that we're not on Earth because this structure is not fully visible from Earth. The view we have is already special. And yes, Earth is quite small and the Moon is definitely getting bigger."
The mission did not document any major setbacks, although flight inspectors at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston canceled the first round of drills because the expressions were still on the correct flight path.
For the most part, the astronauts maintain a "great spirit" and enjoy "a lot of fun things" that are happening in the Orion capsule, as explained by the assistant administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Development Directorate (ESDMD), Lakiesha Hawkings, in a press conference.
April 3: Third day of the mission
The Artemis II mission is headed for the Moon after the successful completion of a translunar injection maneuver, firing the Orion spacecraft's engine.
In a video conference;The crew described the moments of the mission and how they experienced the first hours.Of the moment NASA's spacecraft turned around, mission commander Reid Wiseman said, "You can see the entire planet from the poles. You can see Africa, you can see Europe, and if you look really close, you can even see the Northern Lights. It's an incredible moment."
This moment is experienced in the capsule in a very special way, as Christina Koch, the first woman to visit the moon, also pointed out:"Knowing that we will soon see a similar sight to the Moon makes me even more excited. I knew we would see something similar, but nothing can prepare you for the impressive experience of seeing your planet shine as brightly as if it were daytime, and at night, the Moon glowing with a beautiful sunset glow."
April 2: second day of the mission
The members of the team woke up after four hours of sleep to the rhythm of the song Sleepyhead by the band Young & Sick.The four astronauts are responsible for one of the critical moments of the expedition: the ignition of the lift engines of the Orion spacecraft and the temporary injection maneuver.
I reached the moon in about nine hours
Yes, because in the next few hours, a complex maneuver is planned,
complicada, la de inyección
about nine hours
On the fifth day they arrive and on the sixth day they can see the full moon.
If you look out the window, you will see the moon and the earth.
normal vision
a privilege that only the four of them will have and the four of them for the first time
They can do it
Picture with your own device, your cell phone, because of NASA
permitted
Put them on the board.
So this is the mission of the time, the mission of the 21st century
It's been an incredible upward journey.
A few hours into space, the commander explained his intentions
Opening we meet Pablo Fuente.
He is a science communicator and has been following the project closely for over two years
Artemis II, la conoce al dedillo
He tells us that the astronauts still have time to achieve their goal.
It will be within the scope of the work
Halfway through, more or less five days into the mission, the
Moon, there will be several of them
thousands of kilometers from the Moon.
In fact, you will be able to see the Moon and the Earth from one point.
To be quite a privileged vision.
They remain only 7,400 kilometers away from the moon
but they will make history, they will see the hidden and distant side
nunca de la tierra en todos
By this time the assembly and navigation system had been tested;
and they will also have had time to conduct scientific experiments, such as:
Avatar where they download
Some cells to study the effects of radiation on humans
They will connect to the Internet, record videos, some of them homemade, because
NASA has authorized
Travel with your mobile phone.
Most worrisome is the return
The ship will return due to the pull of the Earth's gravity.
If you don't have a motorcycle, you'll just activate with the brakes
The re-entry speed is 11 kilometers per second.
It goes from Barcelona to Madrid
45 seconds later.This is the Orion spacecraft house
Firing the engine for 43 seconds, they set the device's trajectory, a critical maneuver toward the Moon.After this first phase, they rested again to continue the second part of the day, which included the translunar injection maneuver a few hours later.
The second day of the mission was also used to test the flywheel, which works like a yo-yo and will allow the crew to exercise during the mission.Four expedition members exercise for 30 minutes a day to reduce muscle and bone loss that occurs in the absence of gravity.
The flywheel is a cable machine that allows for aerobic exercises like rowing, as well as resistance training like squats and deadlifts.It's also a new addition to this mission, as is the remote toilet, which had to be repaired on the first day of the trip after suffering a minor malfunction during takeoff.
April 1: first mission day
At 6:35 p.m. in Florida on Wednesday, April 1 (12:35 p.m. in mainland Spain), the four astronauts launched the Artemis II mission.NASA, 50 years after the last Apollo mission, made a new trip to the moon.According to the US agency, the first hours of the trip went as planned except for minor problems that had already been resolved.
The four astronauts in the Orion spacecraft had to solve some minor communication problems during the launch.The crew can hear NASA experts, but mission members can't hear on the ground.
Also, there were some complications with the pod toilet.This is the first time that a ship has a separate bathroom; until now, members of this type of trip had to use a bag.The four astronauts were able to solve the incident by contacting experts in Houston.The Orion capsule deployed its solar panels according to plan and tested the instrument's security systems, among other things, in Earth orbit during the first hour of the mission.
