Overview
- During Monday’s seven-hour pass behind the Moon, Orion reached a record 252,756 miles from Earth, skimmed within about 4,067 miles of the surface, and completed a planned 40-minute blackout before contact resumed.
- The crew photographed key targets including the Orientale Basin, which NASA said was seen in full by human eyes for the first time, with new high-resolution images now being released.
- The astronauts proposed names for two fresh craters—Integrity, after their capsule, and Carroll, honoring commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife—and NASA said it will submit the proposals to the International Astronomical Union.
- The flyby delivered rare sights that only human observers can narrate in real time, including a total solar eclipse, views of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn, Earthrise and Earthset, and brief flashes from micrometeoroids striking the lunar surface.
- Riding a fuel‑saving free‑return trajectory used by Apollo 13, the four-person crew is targeting a Pacific splashdown near San Diego on Friday, with the mission’s data and imagery feeding preparations for Artemis III and IV, the first crewed lunar-vicinity flights since 1972.