Overview
- Orion completed the first of three course‑correction burns Tuesday, setting up a free‑return to an April 10–11 splashdown off San Diego.
- The close pass on the Moon’s far side overnight Monday–Tuesday set a new human distance record near 406,771 kilometers and included an expected 40‑minute radio blackout.
- During the 6–7 hour pass, the crew logged about 30–35 observation targets such as Mare Orientale and the Hertzsprung basin, watched a long solar eclipse, and recorded flashes from meteorite impacts on the surface.
- NASA and the White House released the first photos taken from the far side, including an Earthset and a view of the Moon eclipsing the Sun, while Italy’s Virtual Telescope imaged Orion near 400,000 kilometers using JPL trajectory data.
- The astronauts proposed naming two unnamed craters Integrity and Carroll, the latter honoring Reid Wiseman’s late wife, with formal approval to be sought from the International Astronomical Union.