The astronauts of the Artemis II mission completed their flyby of the Moon and began their return trip to Earth this Tuesday (7), after observing little-known parts of the satellite until now.
O President Donald Trump congratulated this Monday (6) the Artemis II astronauts who flew over the Moon during a call with the group, in which he told them they had made “history”.
“You are modern pioneers, all of you,” said Trump before starting a conversation with the crew, three Americans and one Canadian, who are on a historic 10-day mission around Earth’s natural satellite.
“You have a lot of courage to do what you are doing,” the president declared to the astronauts. “You made history and made all of America proud.”
Return to Earth
after observing little-known parts of the satellite until now.
For about 40 minutes, the crew of the Orion spacecraft – Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen – They were left without any type of contact with Earth as they passed behind the natural satellite. At that moment, they were able to see both the sunset and the rise of the Earth.
“It is wonderful to hear the Earth again”, said Cristina Koch when the connection was resumed.
“We will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other,” said Koch, in his first statements after the signal was cut.
Shortly after the start of the return trip to Earth, which will take about four days, the astronauts observed a solar eclipse.
On Monday, the Artemis II team broke the record of 400,171 km away from Earth, set by the Apollo 13 mission in the 1970s. The current mission surpassed the previous mark, reaching 406,771 km away.
*AFP
