In the nearly three days since thefirst crewed lunar mission in 50 years launched, Artemis II astronauts have made it over 160,000 miles away from Earth and are closing the distance to the moon every second.
Artemis II launched on April 1 at about 6:35 p.m. ET with NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Hammock Koch, and Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day mission to take the crew farther into space than anyone has ever gone.
On April 4, the crew was preparing to make a lunar flyby, the next phase of the Artemis II mission that will bring the spacecraft around the moon and back to Earth. Artemis IIwon't be landing on the moon; that's planned for Artemis IV in 2028.
"We can see the Moon out of the docking hatch right now. It's a beautiful sight," Koch said, according to a NASA update at midnight on April 4.
The Space Launch System rocket Artemis II begins its journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39B March 19, 2026. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Inside NASA's Artemis mission to the moon
Where is the Artemis II mission right now?
At about 9:30 a.m. on April 4, the spacecraft carrying four astronauts was about 161,700 miles away from Earth and gaining distance by the second. It was traveling at a velocity of 2,510 mph, and was about 116,600 miles away from the moon.
You can follow along on the crew's exact movements usingNASA's Artemis II tracker.
The tracker, called the "Artemis Real-time Orbit Website" (AROW), shows how far the Orion capsule is from Earth, its distance from the moon and how fast it's traveling.
Advertisement
More:Artemis II astronauts among 1st to take smartphones to space
The tracker uses data collected in real time by sensors on Orion that are sent to the Mission Control Center in Houston. The website is being constantly updated, and users can see moment-by-moment updates to the space mission's position.
What are the astronauts doing on April 4?
On April 4, Orion is more than halfway on its journey to the moon, NASA said.
The crew will work on preparations for the lunar flyby, which is set for Monday, April 6. Early the morning of April 4, the astronauts were sleeping, having started a napping period at about 4 a.m. ET. The ground team will wake them up at about 12:35 p.m.
In the last day, crew members have been "exercising, practicing medical response procedures, and testing the spacecraft's emergency communications system in deep space," NASA said.
More:NASA shares 1st images of Earth from Artemis II's Orion. Take a look
On the evening ofApril 3, a planned trajectory projection burn, which would have fine-tuned Orion's velocity and trajectory, was cancelled because the trajectory was on the correct flight path, NASA said. Two more course-correction burns are still scheduled.
Preparations for the lunar flyby phase include stowing equipment in the cabin, setting up cameras and "practicing the choreography of moving in microgravity within a space about the size of two minivans," NASA said. The flyby on April 6 will be about a six-hour period when the sun, moon and Orion will be aligned so that the astronauts will be able to see about 20% of the moon's far side, which is not visible from Earth, lit by the sun. They will see features of the moon that have never been seen by unaided human eyes.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:More than halfway to the moon: See where Artemis II is right now
0 Comments