Artemis II astronaut recalls the moment that gives him chills — 'and then it was...'

Artemis II astronauts witnessed a humbling moment when Earth vanished from their sight when Orion went behind the Moon. They could no longer see their home planet. Reflecting on that moment, mission commander Reid Wiseman said at a live conference from the spacecraft last week. He said, just thinking about it is making his palms sweat and giving him chills. "It is amazing to watch your home planet disappear behind the moon. You can see the atmosphere. You can see the terrain on the moon projected across the Earth … it was just an unbelievable sight … and then it was gone. It was out of sight," he added. At that moment, not only could the four astronauts not see Earth, but they also could not talk to anyone on the ground on Earth for 31 minutes. All communication was cut off when Orion went behind the Moon. At this moment, they saw Earth set. Together, the visual and audio gap led the crew to have an awakening of their own - That it is a "true gift" that no human on Earth has gone through what they just did. "Human minds shouldn't have to go through what these just went through," Wiseman said.

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Artemis Earthset and Earthrise photos

The Earthset photo that Orion took at this moment is truly an iconic image. It is being compared to the Earthrise photo taken by the Apollo 8 mission on Christmas Eve 1968. This was the time when three humans went around the Moon for the first time. The Apollo photo was taken by pilot Bill Anders and was a chance encounter. Meanwhile, Artemis II Earthset was planned. They also took an Earthrise photo later, but seeing their planet setting in the vast expanse of space was what truly affected the astronauts. "We shared maple cookies that Jeremy had brought. We took about three or four minutes as a crew to reflect on where we were — and then it was right back into the science," he added.

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Artemis II returned humans to the Moon after over 50 years. The historic mission is a prelude to the human landings planned for 2028. Astronauts Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen saw the far side of the Moon and even named a crater after Wiseman's late wife, Carroll. They became the first humans to travel to the farthest point in space as Orion flew 7,500 kilometres farther from the far side of the Moon.