Hours before entering the sixth day of mission Artemis II, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) published a “last” photo of the Moon. The trip enters into a lunar flyby our next moments this Monday (6).
The agency highlighted the image moments after the crew start the sleep period and wished “sweet dreams” to astronauts. See image below:
6th day: closest point to the Moon
The Artemis II mission arrives this Monday (6), in one of the most anticipated moments of the manned journey around the natural satellite.
NASA broadcasts the mission 24 hours a day, including special coverage of the passage by the Moon from 2 pm (Brasília time), through the NASA+ platform. THE CNN Brazil also provides complete coverage, with real-time updates on the website and schedule.
The day begins at 11:50 am, with the start of 6th day of flight and the awakening of the crew. At 2:56 pm, the astronauts are expected to break the record for the greatest distance ever traveled by humans in relation to Earth, surpassing the mark set by the Apollo 13 mission.
Throughout the afternoon, the team prepares the Orion capsule for the flyby and begins the lunar observation period. At night, temporary loss of communication is expected as it passes behind the Moon, around 7:47 pm, and the point of closest approach with satellite, at 8:02 pm.
Subsequently, Orion also reaches its greatest distance from Earth and enters a period in which the Moon will eclipse the Sun, before the end of observations, scheduled for 10:20 pm.
The Orion capsule entered the Moon’s sphere of influence in the early hours of Monday.
In practice, this means that the Moon’s gravity now has a greater influence on the ship than that of Earth. This point is considered strategic in the trajectory, as it indicates that the spacecraft is already effectively under lunar gravitational “domain”, naturally heading towards the flyby.
