It’s been nearly two weeks since the Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth, so here are five things you need to know about what they’ve been up to and what’s next for NASA’s moon mission.
No rest for the weary: Artemis II astronauts have been busy for nearly two weeks since returning to Earth from one of NASA’s most prolific missions in decades.
The 10-day mission, which began April 1 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and ended April 10 off the coast of San Diego, California, was the first spaceflight to bring humans near the moon in more than 50 years. NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen traveled farther from Earth than any human before, seeing unprecedented views of the moon during their journey.
After splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts spent the rest of their days adjusting to life on Earth, reuniting with their families, reporting on their missions, and appearing in the media.
As for NASA, the US space agency isn’t resting on its laurels and is already taking steps to put the Artemis III mission into orbit for a manned moon landing in 2028.
It’s been nearly two weeks since the Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth, so here are five things you need to know about what they’ve been up to and what’s next for NASA’s moon mission.
Artemis II Commander Reed Wiseman shares Earthset video
NASA astronaut Reed Wiseman, who served as commander of the Artemis II mission, shared a video on April 19 showing the Earth setting below the lunar horizon.
This breathtaking video was recorded on Wiseman’s iPhone on April 6 as the Artemis II crew made their historic lunar crossing. During the lunar rendezvous, astronauts aboard the Orion capsule came nearly 4,000 miles above the moon’s surface, giving them a view of the far side never before seen by humans.
“The moon was barely visible through the docking hatch window, but my iPhone was the perfect size to capture the view,” Wiseman said in an Instagram caption. “This is uncropped and uncut at 8x zoom, which is roughly equivalent to what the human eye sees. Enjoy.”
In the video, which quickly went viral, the astronauts can be heard marveling at the profound sight as mission specialist Christina Koch quickly snaps photos with a camera with a 400mm lens.
One of the astronauts can be heard saying in the video, “Why don’t you take a look at that?” “Wow. Hey, no way.”
Artemis II astronauts transition to return to Earth
Koch also shared on social media on April 17 a video of himself participating in a training exercise aimed at helping astronauts return to life under Earth’s gravity, even seven days after splashdown.
The video shows Koch attempting what she calls a tandem walk with her eyes closed, which she explains in the caption, can help inform how conditions like vertigo and concussions are treated.
“When people live in microgravity, their vestibular organs, the systems in our bodies that evolved to tell our brains how we’re moving, don’t work properly,” Koch explained. “Our brains learn to ignore these signals, so when we first return to gravity, we rely heavily on our eyes for visual orientation.”
Koch, an avid adventurer, even joked, “I guess I’ll have to wait a while to surf again.”
Artemis II astronauts conduct simulated walk on the moon
Artemis II mission specialist and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen also shared videos and photos of himself performing a mock moonwalk at the Johnson Space Center in Houston within his first week back from space.
In a photo shared on Instagram on April 16, Hansen explained that he and his crew participated in a simulation to “figure out how to make the most of every step on the moon for future missions.”
“After the lunar trip, while our bodies are still adjusting, we put on the suits and go through a grueling test run,” Hansen explained.
In a video shared on April 15, the Canadian Space Agency even joked, “There’s no rest for the wicked!”
NASA deploys SLS core stage for Artemis III launch
NASA is already looking ahead to its next lunar mission, Artemis III. The mission, scheduled to launch in 2027, will send new astronauts aboard the Orion capsule into Earth orbit, where they could dock with one or both of the commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Similar to Artemis II, this mission will be another important test of hardware and procedures ahead of the 2028 moon landing during Artemis IV.
The space agency rolled out the next core stage of the Space Launch System rocket that will carry the Artemis III mission into orbit at the Michaux Assembly Facility in New Orleans on April 20. The move comes as NASA prepares to load a huge piece of hardware onto a Pegasus barge that will transport it to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The 212-foot-tall core stage stores large amounts of supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel to power four engines and is the largest section of the SLS rocket.
NASA’s mobile launcher used in the Artemis II mission is also now back inside the vehicle assembly building at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for integration with the SLS rocket.
NASA watchdog issues warning about Artemis spacesuit
But it’s not all good news for NASA and its Artemis moon program.
On April 20, NASA’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report warning that spacesuits needed for astronauts on the moon may not be ready in time. NASA has contracted Houston-based Axiom Space to develop a spacesuit that the U.S. space agency will effectively rent for future manned missions to the moon.
But while NASA and Axiom said they were on track to test the spacesuit on the Artemis III mission in 2027, the watchdog’s report found that the suit could not be ready until 2031, three years after the goal of a lunar landing mission.
The report, which outlines two actions NASA should take, comes about a month after the OIG released another damning report in March that found Blue Origin and SpaceX’s lunar landers were also behind schedule.
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact elagatta@usatodayco.com.
