It’s time for Artemis II to break Apollo 13’s distance record. What to know about the moon flyby

HOUSTON– The Artemis II astronauts are already the champions of a new era of lunar exploration. Now it’s time to set a new distance record.

Launched last week on humanity’s first trip to the Moon since 1972, the three Americans and one Canadian are chasing Apollo 13’s maximum range from Earth. This will make them the most distant emissaries from our planet as they circle the moon non-stop on Monday and then return home.

Their roughly six-hour lunar flyby promises views of the far side of the Moon that were too dark or too difficult to see for the 24 Apollo astronauts who preceded them. A total solar eclipse also awaits them as the moon blocks the sun, exposing fragments of the glittering corona.

“We’re going to look at the Moon, do some sort of mapping of it, and then continue to go back there in full force,” said flight director Judd Frieling. The goal is a lunar base filled with landers, rovers, drones and habitats.

An up-close and personal look at Artemis II with another world – our constant companion, the moon.

The Apollo 13 astronauts missed their moon landing when one of their oxygen tanks ruptured en route in 1970.

With all three lives in danger, Mission Control opted for a free-return lunar trajectory to get them home as quickly and efficiently as possible. This route relies on the gravity of the Earth and the Moon, and minimal fuel.

It worked for Apollo 13, making it NASA’s greatest “successful failure.” (For the record, flight director Gene Kranz never said “Failure is not an option.” The phrase is purely Hollywood, originating from the 1995 biopic starring Tom Hanks.)

Commander Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert reached a maximum of 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) from Earth before turning back to save lives on Apollo 13.

The Artemis II astronauts follow the same figure-eight path since they do not orbit the moon or land there. But their distance from Earth is expected to exceed that of Apollo 13 by more than 4,100 miles (6,600 kilometers).

Artemis II’s Christina Koch said last week that she and her teammates weren’t living in superlatives, but that it was a milestone “that people can relate to and relate to,” merging the past with the present and even the future when new records are set.

During the flyby, astronauts will split into pairs and take turns capturing the lunar view from their windows with cameras. At closest approach, they will be within 4,070 miles (6,550 kilometers) of the moon.

Because they launched on April 1, the rendezvous will not illuminate the distant lunar side as much as other dates would have. But the crew will still be able to see “specific pieces of the dark side that have never been seen” by humans, said NASA geologist Kelsey Young, including much of the Orientale Basin.

They will record their observations while photographing the gray and pockmarked scenes. There is a suite of professional-grade cameras on board, and each astronaut also has an iPhone for more informal, instant photo-taking.

Young’s team created lunar geography sheets for astronauts to study before the flight.

“They’ve been practicing for many, many months visualizing the moon,” she said this weekend, “and looking at the real thing, I’m really, really looking forward to them bringing the moon a little bit closer to home on Monday.”

The benefit of the April 1 launch is a total solar eclipse. The eclipse will not be visible from Earth – only from the Orion capsule – giving astronauts a several-minute view of the sun’s outermost radiant atmosphere, the corona.

Astronauts will be on the lookout for any unusual solar activity during the eclipse, Young said, and will use their “unique perspective” to describe features of the solar corona, or corona.

All four astronauts carried eclipse glasses to protect their eyes.

Orion will be out of contact with Mission Control for nearly an hour while behind the moon. The same thing happened during the Apollo moon shots.

NASA is relying on its Deep Space Network to communicate with the crew, but giant antennas in California, Spain and Australia won’t have line of sight when Orion disappears behind the Moon for about 40 minutes.

These communication blackouts were always a tense time during Apollo even though, as Frieling points out, “physics takes over and physics will absolutely bring us back to the front side of the Moon.”

Once Artemis II leaves the Lunar District, it will take four days to return home. The capsule will aim for a splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego on April 10, nine days after its launch in Florida.

During the return flight, the astronauts will establish a radio link with the crew of the orbiting International Space Station. This is the first time a lunar crew has had colleagues in space at the same time and NASA can’t pass up the opportunity for a cosmic conversation. The conversation will include both members of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019: Koch aboard Orion and Jessica Meir, aboard the station.

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