The Manila Times
(UPDATE) SAN DIEGO, California — An elated NASA late Friday was celebrating its successful voyage around the Moon, after four astronauts safely returned to Earth, having completed the first lunar flyby in more than 50 years. The NASA spacecraft carrying four astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — splashed down without a hitch off the California coast, capping the US space agency's crewed test mission that returned with spectacular images of the Moon. "What a journey," said mission commander Reid Wiseman, who reported that the crewmembers — himself along with Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen — were "stable" and "green." "They're in great condition; that's what that means," said Rob Navias, the NASA public affairs official who narrated their return on the agency's livestream. Following an expected but nerve-wracking communications blackout during their high-stakes re-entry, Wiseman's voice triggered relief that the astronauts were well on their way back home. "We have you loud and clear," he said following a voice check from mission control in Houston. In a scene reminiscent of NASA’s Apollo moonshots of yesteryear, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft docked to the capsule, hauling them aboard for the short trip to the Navy’s awaiting recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha. “These were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there right now, and I can’t imagine a better crew,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the recovery ship. NASA's Mission Control erupted in celebration, with hundreds pouring in from the back support rooms. “We did it,” NASA's Lori Glaze rejoiced at a news conference. “Welcome to our moonshot.” Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the entire plunge on automatic pilot. The lunar cruiser hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since the 1960s and 1970s Apollo. The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout. All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. Watching the drama unfold nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away, the astronauts’ families huddled in Mission Control's viewing room, cheering when the capsule emerged from its six-minute blackout and again at splashdown. The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew’s reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II came screaming back at 36,174 feet (11,026 meters) per second — or 24,664 mph (39,693 kph) — just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown. By late Friday, helicopters had lifted the astronauts to a recovery ship off the Pacific coast near San Diego, where they all proved capable of walking unassisted. Isaacman called the voyage "a perfect mission." "We're back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon," he said, and "this is just the beginning." 'A great day' As the astronauts returned to Earth their spacecraft reached maximum speeds more than 30 times the speed of sound, and faced searing temperatures around half as hot as the surface of the Sun. It was a key test of their heat shield, which in an earlier trial uncrewed mission had faced complications that they attempted to mitigate this time around by shifting the return trajectory. "If you didn't have anxiety bringing this spacecraft home, you probably didn't have a pulse," said flight director Rick Henfling. But the Artemis II re-entry was smooth sailing. The Orion capsule will now be painstakingly examined to assess how it fared. US President Donald Trump praised the astronauts for their "spectacular" trip and said he "could not be more proud" — while wasting no time in looking ahead to the eventual goal of sending missions even further into space. "Next step, Mars!" he wrote on social media. Artemis II was the inaugural crewed mission of NASA's program aiming to install a sustained presence on the Moon, including the eventual construction of a base that could be used for further exploration, including to Mars. Fresh confidence From liftoff to splashdown, the trip clocked in at nine days, one hour, 31 minutes and 35 seconds — though NASA rounds up and calls it a 10-day mission. It began with a dramatic launch from Florida on April 1, and was studded with firsts, records and extraordinary moments. The four astronauts become the humans to travel furthest away from the Earth, at 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). While hurtling through deep space and zipping around the Moon, they took thousands of photographs, amassing a stunning portfolio of images that captivated people on Earth. They also witnessed a solar eclipse along with extraordinary meteorite strikes on the lunar surface. Several achievements added to the voyage's historic nature: Glover was the first person of color to fly around the Moon; Koch was the first woman; and Canadian Hansen, the first non-American. Astronomer Derek Buzasi of the University of Chicago called the mission "an almost flawless success." "I admit to having had my doubts about the Artemis program, but now I have fresh confidence in our next steps as we go back to the Moon to stay," he said. Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll. During Monday's record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the moon's far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said. Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the Moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968. Born a decade after Apollo, Isaacman greeted the astronauts with hugs as they headed from the helicopters to the ship’s medical bay for routine checks. They walked by themselves, refusing the wheelchairs offered them. Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary”; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.” Eye on the prize NASA is hoping it can put boots on the lunar surface as soon as 2028 — the final full year of Trump's second White House term. Experts, however, have voiced skepticism that the lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin, companies owned by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos respectively, will be ready in time. China, meanwhile, is forging ahead with its own effort targeting 2030 to put astronauts on the Moon. In the meantime, NASA is hoping to capitalize on the Artemis II mission's success to drum up excitement about space exploration. Clayton Swope, a space policy expert at of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the mission stands as "proof that when America keeps its eye on the prize, it can still do very great things."
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