HOUSTON: The Artemis astronauts were gearing up on Saturday (Apr 4) for their long-anticipated lunar flyby, including reviewing the surface features they must analyse and photograph during their time circling the Moon.
“Morale is high on board,” commander Reid Wiseman told Houston’s Mission Control centre as the space crew’s work day began.
Upon waking around 1635 GMT on Saturday, the astronauts were approximately 169,000 miles (271,979 kilometres) from Earth, and approaching the Moon at 110,700 miles (178,154 kilometres), according to NASA.
The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected overnight Sunday into Monday, when the astronauts will enter the “lunar sphere of influence” when the Moon’s gravity will have a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s. If all proceeds smoothly, as Orion whips around the Moon the astronauts could set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.
CREW PREPARES FOR MILESTONE
Wiseman along with fellow Americans Christina Koch and Victor Glover, as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen, are on a historic journey around the Moon, which they are soon due to slingshot around. It is a feat Wiseman has dubbed “Herculean” and which humanity has not accomplished in more than half a century.
The astronauts kicked off their day with a meal that included scrambled eggs and coffee, NASA said, and had woken up to the tune of Chappell Roan’s pop smash “Pink Pony Club.”
Later on Saturday, Glover was due to perform a manual piloting demonstration to provide NASA with more data regarding the spacecraft’s performance in deep space. After that, the crew was planning to go over their checklist for documenting their experience travelling around the Moon.
The astronauts have had geology training in order to be able to photograph and describe lunar features, including ancient lava flows and impact craters.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.