Overview
- Reid Wiseman, the mission’s commander, posted an uncropped cellphone video Monday that shows Earth slipping behind the Moon, a rare “earthset” captured with 8x zoom through Orion’s docking‑hatch window.
- In post‑flight briefings, the crew said reentry felt intense as the parachutes deployed, and Wiseman and Victor Glover noted a small loss of charred heat‑shield material that NASA will examine in detail.
- The 10‑day flyby reached about 406,768 km from Earth, the farthest humans have traveled in more than 50 years, and included a 41‑minute far‑side blackout before contact returned through the Deep Space Network station in Madrid.
- NASA is targeting mid‑2027 for Artemis III to test Orion’s rendezvous and docking with a commercial Human Landing System in lunar orbit, though the agency’s inspector general flagged at least a two‑year delay on SpaceX’s Starship lander and an eight‑month slip for Blue Origin’s design.
- The program separates crew transport on SLS/Orion from privately built landers, which means the first planned south‑pole surface attempt on Artemis IV in 2028 depends on contractors fixing design issues and hitting test milestones.