GoKawiilEarthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. ET on Monday, during the Artemis II flyby of the moon. On Earth's day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. On the moon in the foreground, the Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. NASA
NASA's historic Artemis II mission to the moon is now into its seventh day. The Orion spacecraft and its crew of four have made their long-awaited flyby of the moon and are starting their return trip to Earth. On day 6, they set a record for the farthest distance ever traveled 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.
Last week, the 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 for updates. This is everything you need to know about the mission back to the moon.
When does the Artemis II mission return to Earth?
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