Today, the Artemis II Orion spacecraft will conduct its historic lunar flyby, including a journey behind the far side of the moon.
Around noon our time, NASA’s live coverage of the lunar flyby begins on many of the major streaming platforms as well as on NASA’s official YouTube channel
Just before 2 o’clock our time this afternoon, The crew will surpass the previous record for the farthest distance humans have travelled from Earth, which was originally set by the famous Apollo 13 mission back in 1970.
Around quarter to 3 our time this afternoon. The official 7-hour lunar observation period will begin.
Around quarter to 7 our time tonight. It’s being predicted that Orion will temporarily lose communications with NASA for approximately 40 minutes as it moves behind the far side or “dark side” of the moon.
Just after 7 our time tonight, Orion will reach its closest approach to the moon’s surface and it’s furthest distance from Earth
Communication with NASA is expected to be back up and running just before 7:30 our time tonight as the crew re-emerges from behind the moon.
The lunar flyby observation period should concluded just before 9:30 our time tonight.
During the transit behind the moon, the astronauts will be seeing parts of the lunar far side never before viewed directly by human eyes.
