Nasa Artemis II astronauts to fly by moon’s far side

A view of Earth taken by an Artemis II crew member through the window of the Orion spacecraft on Saturday.

Photo: Handout via Reuters A Nasa crew of four astronauts will fly by the moon on Monday at the closest distance they will get to the lunar surface during their mission and the nearest any human has got to the moon in more than 50 years.

The historic moment is set to occur just after 7pm New York time on Monday, part of a several hours-long fly-by where the astronauts will snap images of the moon’s far side – a vantage that is never seen from Earth.

The close approach is the pinnacle moment of Nasa’s Artemis II mission, which launched to space on April 1, sending Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, en route to the moon.

The mission serves as an elaborate dress rehearsal meant to test vehicles that will be used to help land humans on the lunar surface in potentially two years.

As they approach the moon on Monday, the Artemis II crew will also break the record for the farthest distance any humans have travelled in space, surpassing the distance travelled by the crew of the Apollo 13 crew in 1970.

That moment is set to occur around 2pm New York time, before the fly-by.

Nasa officials have downplayed the significance of breaking the record. “You want every mission to keep exploring and keep learning new things and getting farther from Earth than we’ve ever been before is a fun statistic,” Emily Nelson, Nasa’s chief flight director, said during a press conference ahead of the launch. “But there are a lot of other things we’re going to learn on this mission that are going to be a lot more exciting.” Even still, Nasa has a countdown clock in mission control ticking down to when the crew breaks the record.

The official fly-by period will begin at 2.45pm New York time, which is when the Lockheed Martin-built Orion capsule carrying the crew will orient its windows towards the moon, allowing the crew to start their observations and begin taking pictures.

Nasa astronaut Christina Koch inside the Orion spacecraft on Saturday.

Photo: Handout via Reuters At their nearest distance to the moon, the crew will come within roughly 6,543km (4,066 miles) of the lunar surface, according to a new estimate by Nasa.

From the crew’s point of view, the moon will appear roughly the size of a basketball in someone’s outstretched hand.

Nasa is hopeful that the astronauts will be able to use their e

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