Four pioneering men and women splashed down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego last night, after a 10-day, 695,081-mile journey that was out of this world.
The Artemis II mission was not only Nasa’s first return to the Moon after a gap of 54 years, but also took humans further from Earth than they have ever been before.
In the decades since Nasa’s last visit, the US and other countries have been studying the Moon with an army of telescopes, satellites and uncrewed probes.
But instruments can only go so far, and human eyes can sometimes reveal finer details, said Dr Megan Argo, astrophysicist at the University of Lancashire.
This was especially the case as their Orion spacecraft passed around the far side of the Moon – the side that always faces away from Earth.
While flying over the far side, the team were able to view parts of lunar craters and lava plains that had not been viewed before with the human eye. They reported seeing subtle shades of brown and green on the lunar surface below, hinting that the rocks may be made of different minerals.
Artemis II crew photographed craters dotting the surface of the Moon. (Photo: Nasa/AP)“Humans can adapt what they’re doing to the conditions and the views,” said Argo. “They can decide to take an image in a different way, so it’s much more reactive than a satellite can be.
“There are scientists who are really excited by hearing first hand from the astronauts, who’ve been trained in lunar geology and trained in observation techniques.”
The crew also saw two previously unnamed craters, which they called Integrity, after the name of their specific version of the Orion spacecraft, and Carroll, after Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman’s wife who died of cancer in 2020.
At one point, the team saw a unique solar eclipse, where the Moon passed in front of the Sun, letting them see the Sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere.
The view from Orion when the Moon passed in front of the Sun (Photo: Nasa/Getty)But the main purpose of the trip was not the astronauts’ lunar research. It was to test the functioning of the Space Launch System rocket along with the smaller Orion spacecraft that housed the astronauts.
That’s because the current mission, Artemis II, is just the latest step in a longer-term plan of sending humans to land on the Moon, set up an inhabited base on the Moon, and ultimately, go to Mars.
Each Artemis mission will build on the previous one, attempting more challenging tasks. The next one, in 2027, will test the abilities of different spacecraft to dock with each other in orbit, while the following one in 2028, will finally land humans on the Moon.
Orion snapped this high-resolution selfie in space with a camera mounted on one of its solar array wings during a routine external inspection of the spacecraft on the second day into the mission (Photo: Nasa/Getty)Putting people on the Moon has distinct advantages over just sending robot landers, said Professor Mahesh Anand, an expert in planetary science and exploration at the Open University. “Once humans land on the moon, they can conduct a myriad of science in much more effective way than a robot,” he said.
The current Artemis mission is the testing ground for those future trips where astronauts land on the Moon.
“All of the experiments with the spacecraft that the astronauts have done on this mission will be hugely important,” said Argo. “They will help to train the astronauts for the Artemis III and IV missions, showing them how the spacecraft handles, how you get the best out of it.
“Their feedback will be hugely beneficial for the engineers, tweaking the designs, modifying things to make the spacecraft perform as well as possible.”
The astronauts manually moved their Orion spacecraft away from the rocket (Photo: Nasa)Musk’s goal of colonising Mars
And what is the point of returning to the Moon and reaching Mars? Billionaire Elon Musk – whose company SpaceX is developing a spacecraft that Nasa may use to land on the Moon – says we need to make a back-up home for humanity, in case of catastrophe on Earth.
Whether or not you agree, there could also be tangible benefits for those of us happy to stay on Earth. “Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery,” Nasa has said. The previous Apollo Moon landings spurred uncountable advances in science, engineering and computing.
For instance, the need to miniaturise circuits for the Apollo lunar lander led to modern microchip technology, used in everything from planes to smartphones.
In the 60s, it would have been hard to predict the modern smartphone – it is equally difficult now to say exactly what benefits will accrue from the quest to put a base on the Moon.
It has enormous technical challenges, not least, providing inhabitants with a fail-safe power supply, life support systems and protection from solar and cosmic radiation.
In this view of Earth as it eclipses the Sun, two auroras can be seen, at the top left and bottom right (Photo: Nasa/Reuters)The mission has been criticised for being wasteful of the Earth’s resources, but it could help the climate crisis in unexpected ways, said Argo. “Apollo galvanised the environmental movement because it was the first time we’d seen the Earth from quite that perspective.
“We’ve got lots of pictures of the Earth from space but now we’re seeing it through the eyes of those four astronauts as a precious, beautiful thing that’s unique in the cosmos. Hopefully, that might change a few people’s perspectives on the planet and how we look after it.”
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