flyby

What we are seeing today is not just another space mission, but the return of humanity to a type of journey that had not been repeated for decades. Artemis II It is in full approach to the Moon and, for the first time since the Apollo era, a human crew is flying over it again. The difference is that today we can follow this moment almost in real time via NASA YouTube channelaccompanying the astronauts in one of the most symbolic sections of the entire mission. On the way. Orion has already crossed the limit in which the Moon’s gravity prevails over that of the Earth, something that happened in the Spanish early morning, at 06:37, according to NASA data. That step marks a before and after: from that moment, the ship and its crew not only approach the Moon, but also enter its gravitational domain. What comes next is one of the most anticipated moments of the mission, the turn around our satellite before heading back. Record distance. There is a specific moment on this day that goes beyond the maneuver itself and that has enormous symbolic weight within the history of space exploration. At 7:56 p.m. Spanish peninsular time, the Artemis II crew has surpassed the Apollo 13 mark as the humans who have been the furthest from Earth, a record that has remained intact since 1970. This is not just a technical fact: it is the confirmation that we are going beyond what had been achieved until now with human presence. The key moment, step by step. From here, the mission enters its most anticipated section, and it does so with a very precise schedule that has already begun to be fulfilled. At the time of publication of this article, several milestones have already taken place, while others are about to occur overnight. These schedules are adjusted to Spanish peninsular time. The milestones after midnight already correspond to the early morning of April 7 in Spain. Screenshot showing the countdown before breaking the Apollo 13 distance record 06:37: entry into the lunar sphere of influence, the gravity of the Moon begins to dominate (already concluded) 19:30: scientific briefing to the crew from the control center (already concluded) 19:56: the crew surpasses the distance record of Apollo 13 (already completed) 20:45: start of lunar observations 00:44: loss of communication when passing behind the Moon 00:45: “Earthset”, the Earth hides behind the Moon from the perspective of Orion 01:02: closest approach to the lunar surface, about 6,550 km 01:07: maximum distance from Earth 01:25: “Earthrise”, the Earth appears again on the other side of the Moon 01:25: Communication with the crew is recovered 02:35 – 03:32: solar eclipse seen from the ship 03:20: end of lunar observations What we see live. Beyond the technical milestones and schedules, there is a logical question that we all ask ourselves: what exactly are we going to be able to see during this flyby. NASA explains that The coverage includes live images of the Moon captured by cameras installed on Orion’s solar panels, which will allow us to follow the ship’s passage alongside our satellite for several hours. Now, the agency itself warns that the quality of these images may vary depending on distance, system limitations and communications bandwidth. That is, we will not always see a perfect signal, but it will be representative enough to follow the moment. The story is not over yet. While we continue to monitor what is happening hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, Artemis II continues to advance through a sequence of maneuvers that still has several key moments ahead during the early hours of the morning. We are not facing a mission that we can already consider closed, but rather we are facing an ongoing process that we are experiencing almost directly. Images | POT In Xataka | Artemis II is not just a victory for NASA: without the support of Europe it would have been impossible, literally