Artemis II Lunar Flyby Schedule: Time, How to Watch, Where to Stream
The Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen are preparing to make history on Monday, April 6.
During the flyby, the astronauts will break the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by any human mission, surpassing the mark set by Apollo 13 in April 1970 during its emergency return to Earth.
The spacecraft will reach its maximum distance at 7:07 p.m., a total of 252,760 miles from Earth; Apollo 13 reached 248,655 miles from Earth.
Where to Watch, Stream the Flyby
Nearly every platform will be streaming the historic event.
Live coverage of the Artemis II lunar flyby can be found on NASA+, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max and Roku alongside the agency’s 24/7 coverage on its YouTube channel.
What Time is the Lunar Flyby?
The crew will enter the lunar sphere of gravitational influence at approximately 12:41 a.m. EDT April 6.
Coverage for the flyby, though, begins at 1 p.m. ET.
What Is the Objective of the Mission?
Over the weekend, mission control sent the crew the final list of lunar surface features the science team has assigned for observation and photography during the lunar flyby on April 6.
The crew is being tasked with coming up with the final lunar targets and techniques.
"The 30 targets include the Orientale basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide crater that straddles the Moon’s near and far sides," NASA revealed. "Orientale will be fully illuminated and visible as Orion approaches the Moon. This 3.8-billion-year-old crater formed when a large object struck the lunar surface and retains clear evidence of that collision, including dramatic topography in its rings."
"Hertzsprung basin also is on the crew’s list of targets. Northwest of Orientale is a nearly 400-mile crater on the Moon’s far side," NASA continued. "An older ringed basin, Hertzsprung offers a unique contrast to Orientale because its features have been degraded by subsequent impacts. The crew will compare the topography of the two craters to gain insight into how features evolve over geologic timescales."
As the craft passes behind the moon, the astronauts will lose communication with Earth for 40 minutes.
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