Artemis’ journey to the dark side of the Moon

During the historic overflight of dark side of the Moonwhen they will also reach the maximum distance from Earth never reached by man, the four astronauts aboard Artemis II they will later be able to observe asolar eclipse lasting about 53 minutes, an eclipse that will not be visible from our planet. It will happen when they are at the point of closest approach (around 8pm in Italy) less than 6,400 kilometers from the Moon, according to data from the NASA. Will be beaten record established by the mission Apollo 13 in 1970 for the greatest distance ever traveled by man from Earth.

L’total solar eclipseabout seven times longer than those visible from Earth, will begin around 8:35 pm Eastern time in the United States (2 am in Italy on April 7), according to the NASA. The eclipse will occur approximately 90 minutes after the navicella Orion will have reached the furthest point from Earth: around 407,000 kilometres, or around 6,400 kilometers more than the distance reached by the mission Apollo in April 1970.

The eclipse seen by astronauts

Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman, who are making history with the return of the man in lunar orbit after more than fifty years, they will be able to observe thesolar eclipsejust like they did Apollo astronautsalthough not during a flyover like the one in Artemis II. “From the point of view of spaceshipthe Sun will pass behind the Moon, creating a solar eclipse. From this privileged position, the eclipse will last approximately 53 minutes, after which we will witness sunrise, when the Sun will reappear on the other side of the Moon”, explained Kelsey Young, head of the Artemis scientific operations.

Earth’s sunset and sunrise

Additionally, the crew will witness the first sunset of the Earthwhen the planet disappears behind the far side of the Moonand then to its reappearance on the other side: the so-called “earth dawn“.

Scientific lenses and the human eye

The scientist underlined that during the flyby of the far side of the MoonThe astronauts they will have about an hour to reach a dozen scientific objectives based on key questions of lunar and planetary science. “From that, we have developed an observation plan that the crew will follow,” he added. “We’ve included instructions for them to describe any features they might observe in the solar coronawhich can help scientists better understand these processes, especially considering the unique perspective the crew will have relative to our orbiting probe and observatories on Earth,” Young said.

According to the scientist, thehuman eye It’s special because it can detect color nuances and tones that cameras use robotic probes they might not grasp. As an example, he cited the Apollo 17 astronautswho observed the orange regolith on the Moonrevealing that the volcanic activity had occurred more recently than previously thought. Young stated that the NASA hopes the crew will take time during the flyby to allow their eyes to adjust and identify those subtle shades of color, “especially on the parts of the far side that have never been seen by human eye“. “We can ask more pertinent questions because of what Apollo left us and the data coming from probes in orbit” he added. “We look forward to hearing their observations and, of course, seeing the images they will send back to Earth,” he said.

Upcoming missions and the return of Artemis II

The astronauts they will have to spend time looking out the windows and “looking for parts of the Moon that we have basically never seen before,” the administrator said NASA Jared Isaacman over the weekend. “Learn everything you can about Orion it is of fundamental importance because Artemis III it’s only a year away. It is in that mission that we will test the same spaceship together with lunar landing modules“he said.

All this, he added, will provide useful information for subsequent missions come Artemis III and, above all, Artemis IV“when we bring back the astronauts on the lunar surface“. After a ten-day journey, the four astronauts of Artemis IIwhich left Florida last Wednesday and will not land on the Moon during this mission, are expected to arrive off the coast of San Diego next Friday, where the capsula Orion will land in the ocean.