Artemis eyes Moon’s hidden face

London: Artemis II astronauts are on course to set a new distance record when they fly by the Moon without stopping there – and then swing around for the Earth.

The four astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of the US space agency Nasa; and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen – will become Earth’s farthest travelled, going 8,047 km beyond the Moon, exceeding the 4,00,171 km record set by 1970’s ill-fated Apollo 13, The Guardian reported. The Orion capsule’s roughly six-hour flyby on Monday promises views of the Moon’s far side that were too dark or too difficult to see by the Apollo program astronauts. A total solar eclipse also awaits them as the Moon blocks the Sun, exposing snippets of shimmering corona. “We’ll get eyes on the Moon, kind of map it out and then continue to go back in force,” flight director Judd Frieling said.

Orion will be out of contact with mission control for 40 minutes when it’s behind the Moon. Nasa is relying on its Deep Space Network to communicate with the crew.

During the flyby, the astronauts will take turns capturing the lunar views out their windows and will be able make out “definite chunks of the far side that have never been seen” by humans, according to Kelsey Young, Nasa’s Artemis II lunar science geologist.