Distance makes the heart grow fonder…it didn’t take 219,669 miles to remind me how much love I have for Ellie and Katey. They have been incredible supporters during this journey, and they now fully understand why it was important for me to go explore into the unknown.
My small group of close friends brought this song into my life way back in 1999.
When I was deployed in the military I would listen to it every night before bed and it would fill me with joy. To honor my lifelong friends, I asked NASA to play this as one of our Artemis II wakeup songs and it filled my amazing crew with the same joy.
Our little friend group text thread went crazy when my buddy Chris saw this special version this morning. So unbelievably cool!
New Moon. 🎧🔊On. The moment we first shared the far side.
Yes, Apollo missions went around the far side of the moon. However, they didn’t see all of it. Here’s why.
First, the far side was often dark when they orbited. This is because they landed on the near side, so it needed to be light for the astronauts exploring the surface. Since only half of the moon is lit by the sun at any given time, when the near side is lit, the far side is at least partly dark.
Second, Apollo saw small swaths of the surface of the moon as they orbited. This is because they were at a very low altitude and thus had a small, close-up field of view. When we flew around the moon, we were high enough that we saw an entire half at once, but farther away.
The part of the far side that was lit included an absolutely incredible, massive and significant crater basin named Orientale. It had never been fully observed before in person.
And that is how you all brought human eyes to see a new part of the solar system.
After their extraordinary, history-making trip around the moon, @oprah has an in-depth conversation with the crew of Artemis II: Commander Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid ), Pilot Victor Glover (@astrovicglover ), and Mission Specialists Christina Koch (@astro_christina ) and Jeremy Hansen (@astrojeremy ). From launch to landing, the @nasaartemis II astronauts captured the world’s attention while offering a message of unity and hope from space. Watch their conversation on Oprah’s YouTube channel and wherever you podcast. 🎧
My senses remain unusually engaged. Birds, gentle breezes, green grasses, flowers, morning fog in the California mountains, everything stands out more now. Hope it continues.
Life inside Orion!
From April 1-10, the Artemis II astronauts lived and worked inside of the Orion spacecraft, which they named Integrity. NASA astronauts @Astro_Reid , @Astro_Christina , @AstroVicGlover , and @CanadianSpaceAgency astronaut @AstroJeremy spent those ten days observing the Moon and the Earth, collecting scientific data, and maintaining operations on the spacecraft.
The Moon joy was (and continues to be!) contagious as the Artemis II mission flew around the Moon and broke the record for farthest distance traveled from Earth.
Credit: NASA
#Artemis #MoonJoy #Orion
