The Artemis II crew captured this view as the Earth sets behind the Moon during a lunar flyby on April 6.The Associated Press
Shortly after their epic flyby of the moon’s far side on Monday, the crew of Artemis II were reaching for words to describe the magnitude of the experience.
During a Q&A with NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in Houston, which was broadcast live, Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian on the mission, said one thing that surprised him was the moon’s three dimensional quality.
“It was just so obvious you had this sphere out in front of you,” Col. Hansen said. “You really felt like you weren’t in a capsule, you’d been transported to the far side of the moon.”
Col. Hansen, together with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, lifted off for the moon last Wednesday and are now on course to return to return to Earth.
Artemis II mission offers a live view of planetary science in action
On Tuesday, the crew had a relatively light day after conducting a frenzy of scientific observations during their lunar flyby – documenting the first trip around the far side of the moon for any crew since 1972.
At a status briefing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Tuesday, Artemis II entry flight director Rick Henfling said the crew were conducting medical tests and communicating with family on day seven of their flight. In addition, they would be stowing the cameras and other equipment used during the lunar flyby, ahead of a planned re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean now planned for 8:06 p.m. ET on Friday.
“We have to pack up our suitcases and get ready to come home,” he said.
The public impact of the mission has grown thanks to a series of stunning images that NASA released after Monday’s flyby. Among them is one that shows the moon positioned in front the sun’s corona during a solar eclipse, which the crew witnessed near the end of their flyby.
A total solar eclipse greeted the four astronauts as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective. Their flyby of the moon – NASA’s first return since the Apollo era – even included some celestial sightseeing besides yielding rich science.
The Associated Press
Unlike a total solar eclipse seen from Earth – during which the moon looks like a black disk in the sky – this view included additional illumination from the side because of sunlight reflecting off of Earth.
The effect makes the moon appear to leap out of the foreground as a round orb, much as Col. Hansen described. It is an impression further aided by the sight of three distant planets – Mercury, Mars and Saturn – in the same image.
It is an otherworldly view, literally, because it can only be achieved from space at a considerable distance from Earth.
Such photos, including about 175 gigabytes worth of additional imagery and data the astronauts are bringing back, serve to make an important point: They demonstrate unequivocally that NASA’s lunar program has transitioned from past tense to present. Flying to the moon is no longer something that people used to do.
How the Artemis II mission is rekindling humanity’s long love affair with the moon
At the Tuesday briefing Mr. Isaacman noted that even with the crew of Artemis II still in flight, the mobile launcher that was used as a platform for their rocket is returning to the vehicle assembly building in Florida, cutting down on the turnaround time to get the next mission ready.
Last month, Mr. Isaacman said that Artemis III is intended as the mission that will test a crew’s capability of docking with a lunar lander in space. He has called for it to launch next year with a landing on the moon’s surface to follow in 2028.
The onus is on Mr. Isaacman to keep the momentum going for the ambitious schedule. Meanwhile, Canada’s space program now faces the question of how to best stay relevant to NASA’s broader strategy after Col. Hansen wraps up his historic flight.
Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in September, 2025.Annie Mulligan/The Globe and Mail
An important part of the answer could be Jenni Gibbons, a Canadian astronaut who was Col. Hansen’s back up and is currently one of only six people in the world to have been trained on the Orion capsule that carried the Artemis II crew around the moon.
Dr. Gibbons has been visible throughout the mission. She was one of the last people inside the Orion spacecraft hours before launch and also served as the capsule communicator, or capcom, as the primary point of contact between mission control and the crew during the lunar flyby.
She said a particularly poignant moment was when Col. Hansen proposed the naming of two lunar craters, one after the crew’s capsule, called Integrity, and one after Commander Wiseman’s late wife Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020.
“It was so beautiful and human for us to all experience that together and it’s something I’m going to remember for a really long time,” she said.
The previous title was held by the Apollo 13 crew, who logged a maximum distance of 248,655 miles from Earth.
The Associated Press
While the Artemis II crew was on a post-flyby call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Dr. Gibbons got a shout out from Commander Wisemen, as did Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who is heading to the International Space Station on a yet-to-be announced flight.
Dr. Gibbons later told The Globe and Mail that it is not yet clear what her role might be in future lunar flights.
“My hope is that I can continue to stay engaged, with either capcom, supporting the mission, training people or being trained.”
She added that given how much time she and the other Artemis II astronauts have trained for the flight over the past three years, “it would just be completely backwards to not apply that knowledge in some way.”
Opinion: Canada has joined the ranks of the world’s most adventurous lunar explorers
But with Mr. Isaacman now hoping to rapidly increase the rate of lunar missions to at least one a year, and with Canada promised at least one more flight as a partner in the Artemis program, there may be opportunities at hand.
On the eve of the Artemis II launch, Canadian Space Agency president Lisa Campbell seemed to agree.
“I’m very confident with the number of missions that are planned for the moon and beyond, that agencies and countries like Canada who have both a deep space heritage, but also all sorts of new modern capabilities, are going to have lots to offer,” she said.
The Moon fully eclipsed by the Sun during the Artemis II crew's flyby on April 7.NASA/Reuters