GoKawiilThis fully illuminated view of the moon was taken by the Artemis II mission. The near side (the hemisphere we see from Earth) is visible on the right. Everything to the left of the crater is the far side, which we don't see from Earth because the moon rotates on its axis at the same rate it orbits us. NASA
NASA's historic Artemis II mission to the moon is now into its sixth day. The Orion spacecraft and its crew of four are making their long-awaited flyby of the moon and will also enter a trajectory back to Earth. And they have now surpassed the previous record of the astronauts who have traveled the farthest from Earth.
On Sunday, the Artemis II crew received a message from former Apollo astronaut Charles Duke.
"John Young and I landed on the moon in 1972 in a lunar module we named Orion. I'm glad to see a different kind of Orion helping return humans to the Moon as America charts the course to the lunar surface," Duke said.
On Wednesday, a team of American and Canadian astronauts departed Earth in a 332-foot-tall rocket to do something that humanity hasn't done in more than 50 years: travel to the moon.
The crew is Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch. It's also a team of many lunar firsts: Glover is the first Black person to be sent to the moon, Hansen is the first Canadian, and Koch is the first woman. Artemis II helps set the stage for future missions to the moon, deep space and Mars.
We'll be keeping up with all the latest Artemis II news, so check back here today and throughout next week for updates. Here's everything you need to know about the mission back to the moon.
When does the Artemis II mission reach the moon?
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