NASA’s Artemis II moon mission is preparing for its lunar flyby.
NASA officials and the crew are diligently getting ready for Monday’s lunar flyby, while also addressing issues with the spacecraft’s toilet.
Astronaut Christina Koch looks out from the Orion spacecraft, watching Earth fade into the distance as they journey towards the moon.
NASA has launched four astronauts on a groundbreaking mission around the moon—the Artemis II mission. Follow our coverage here.
NASA’s Artemis II mission is now beyond its halfway point to the moon. The crew and agency officials are focusing on preparations for the upcoming lunar flyby. During a five-hour window on Monday, April 6, the astronauts will explore the moon’s far side, witnessing features never before seen by human eyes.
The astronauts—Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman—reached the halfway milestone at 9 A.M. EDT on Saturday.
Kelsey Young, leading NASA’s Science and Explorations Directorate for Artemis II, expressed enthusiasm for the lunar observations at a Saturday press conference. She highlighted the Orientale basin as a particularly exciting target, a massive impact crater three times the size of Massachusetts.
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“This impact basin has played a crucial role not only in lunar science but also in planetary and solar system science,” Young said. “It’s a type of impact basin used to understand processes across the solar system, one of the most common phenomena, yet the majority of it has never been seen by human eyes.”
The astronauts are spending part of their Saturday assessing potential observation targets. Scientific opportunities are vast, including witnessing a solar eclipse as the moon blocks the sun. They will focus on capturing images of the moon’s far side, seeing features for the first time that previous manned flybys missed due to the lunar night.
Young noted that the crew has been thoroughly trained to observe the moon’s far side and achieve the mission’s scientific goals. A key focus is noting colors and topographical details that satellites might overlook. The crew has been studying flashcards created by the science team to identify significant lunar features.
At the same event, John Honeycutt, manager of the Space Launch System, praised the accuracy of the launch, noting the SLS rocket positioned the Orion capsule into Earth orbit with 99.92% precision. Since leaving Earth orbit, Orion has maintained its trajectory to the moon with impressive accuracy.
Meanwhile, the spacecraft’s toilet is facing problems. An overnight wastewater release was cut short, possibly due to ice blockage from cold conditions. “It appears to be experiencing more shadow than expected,” said Debbie Korth, Orion’s deputy program director.
Efforts to warm the wastewater system by tilting the capsule towards the sun have had limited success. “By heating it up, we managed to release some urine, but the problem persists,” Korth explained.
In the interim, the crew is using “collapsible contingency urine devices” to avoid adding more wastewater to the tank until the blockage is cleared, though the toilet remains operational for solid waste. Korth mentioned that ice-related issues have plagued moon missions since NASA’s shuttle era.
Aside from toilet issues, the astronauts discussed the mission’s symbolic value for those on Earth in a CBS interview on Saturday.
“Seeing Earth alone out the window for the first time, I was struck by the vast blackness surrounding it,” Koch noted. “It brought me back to a feeling of gratitude—that in this vast universe, we have the unique opportunity to live together on planet Earth.”
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