This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield underwater after Artemis II splashed down Friday, April 10, 2026.

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield underwater after Artemis II splashed down Friday, April 10, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP

U.S. President Donald Trump.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The NASA Artemis II crew, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover, pose for a group photo inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home following a flyby of the far side of the Moon. Photo: NASA/Handout via REUTERS

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump talk during an event on the South Lawn of the White House, on April 6, 2026
| Photo Credit: AP

After traveling deeper into space than any other humans, the Artemis II astronauts pointed their moonship toward home on Monday (April 6, 2026) night, wrapping up a lunar cruise that revealed views of the far side never beheld by eyes until now.

Their flyby of the moon even included some celestial sightseeing besides yielding rich science — a significant step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years.

A total solar eclipse greeted the three Americans and one Canadian as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective. Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn nodded at them from the black void. The landing sites of Apollo 12 and 14 also were visible, poignant reminders of NASA’s first age of exploration more than half a century ago.

In an especially riveting retro throwback, Artemis II shattered the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. NASA’s Orion capsule reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) from Earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon, 4,101 miles (6,600 kilometers) farther than Apollo 13.

“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed. He challenged “this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”

Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell wished the crew well in a recording made two months before his death last August. Mission Control beamed up his message to commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen, before their fly-around began.

“Welcome to my old neighborhood,” said Lovell, who also flew on Apollo 8, humanity’s first lunar visit. “It’s a historic day and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”

The Artemis II astronauts carried up with them the Apollo 8 silk patch that accompanied Lovell to the moon. “It’s just a real honor to have that on board with us,” Wiseman said.

Artemis II is using the same maneuver that Apollo 13 did after its “Houston, we’ve had a problem” oxygen tank explosion wiped out any hope of a moon landing.

Known as a free-return lunar trajectory, this no-stopping-to-land route takes advantage of Earth and the moon’s gravity, reducing the need for fuel. It’s a celestial figure-eight that put the astronauts on course for home once they emerged from behind the moon Monday evening.

Artemis II’s lunar fly-around and intense observation period lasted seven hours, by far the highlight of the nearly 10-day test flight that will end with a splashdown in the Pacific on Friday.

Venturing as close as 4,067 miles (6,545 kilometers) to the gray dusty surface, the astronauts zipped through a list of more than two dozen targets, using powerful Nikon cameras as well as their iPhones to zoom in on impact craters and other intriguing lunar features.

Before getting started, they requested permission to name two bright, freshly carved craters. They suggested Integrity, the name of their capsule, and Carroll, commander Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.

Wiseman wept as Hansen put in the request to Mission Control, and all four astronauts embraced in tears.

“Such a majestic view out here,” Wiseman radioed once he regained his composure and started picture-taking. The astronauts called down that they managed to capture the moon and Earth in the same shot, and they provided a running commentary to scientists back in Houston on what they were seeing.

At one point, Koch reported an overwhelming sensation of emotion for a second or two while zooming in on the moon. “Something just drew me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real,” she said.

The Artemis II astronauts made their closest approach to the moon and reached their maximum distance from Earth while they were out of contact. Their speed at closest approach: 3,139 mph (5,052 kph). The spacecraft accelerated as it appeared from behind the moon and the planned communications blackout and made tracks for Earth.

An Earthrise came into view showing Asia, Africa and Oceania as Mission Control called out: “We are Earthbound and ready to bring you home.” Flight controllers in Houston flipped their mission patches over to signify the return leg.

Wiseman and his crew spent years studying lunar geography to prepare for the big event, adding solar eclipses to their repertoire during the past few weeks. By launching last Wednesday, they ensured themselves of a total solar eclipse from their vantage point behind the moon, courtesy of the cosmos.

Topping their science target list: Orientale Basin, a sprawling impact basin with three concentric rings, the outermost of which stretches nearly 600 miles (950 kilometers) across.

Their moon mentor, NASA geologist Kelsey Young, expects thousands of pictures.

Artemis II is NASA’s first astronaut moonshot since Apollo 17 in 1972. It sets the stage for next year’s Artemis III, which will see another Orion crew practice docking with lunar landers in orbit around Earth. The culminating moon landing by two astronauts near the moon’s south pole will follow on Artemis IV in 2028.

While Artemis II may be taking Apollo 13’s path, it’s most reminiscent of Apollo 8 and humanity’s first lunar visitors who orbited the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 and read from the Book of Genesis.

Glover said flying to the moon during Christianity’s Holy Week brought home for him “the beauty of creation.” Earth is an oasis amid “a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe” where humanity exists as one, he observed over the weekend.

“This is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and that we’ve got to get through this together,” Glover said, clasping hands with his crewmates.

Published – April 07, 2026 08:02 am IST

Just retired NASA astronaut Sunita Williams said the upcoming Moon mission under the Artemis programme will give her FOMO (fear of missing out), even while she finds joy exploring Earth and all the places she glimpsed from up there in the sky.

On the inaugural evening of the Kerala Literature Festival on Thursday (January 22, 2026), Ms. Williams as she reflected on her 27-year career — the awe of seeing Earth from orbit, the teamwork that built the International Space Station (ISS) and the simple joys she missed in space.

“Who doesn’t want to go to the Moon… That was the whole reason I wanted to join NASA in the first place. So yes, of course, I will have FOMO (fear of missing out), but I am also excited to see my friends do this, to see my fellow human beings take this step,” Ms. Williams said during a session titled Dreams Reach Orbit.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is set to launch Artemis II, its first crewed Moon mission since 1972. Four astronauts will orbit the Moon in 2026.

“I have also discovered some really great places on Earth that I hadn’t visited when I was in space. I have to fill my time, and I plan to do so by travelling all around — Kerala is one of them,” she told the the starstruck crowd packed into the venue.

The 60-year-old recently hung up her boots — and four space suits.

In a stellar 27-year career, she logged 608 days in space, the second most for a NASA astronaut, and shares the sixth-longest single American spaceflight of 286 days with Butch Wilmore during NASA’s Starliner and Crew-9 missions.

She has also completed nine spacewalks, totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, ranking as the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list.

“The act of fear really never entered my head. What entered my head was the trust I had in the people on the ground, the trust I had in my friend and colleague Butch Wilmore, who was sitting right next to me, and the trust he had in me — and how we were going to solve this problem,” Ms. Williams said.

Despite all her technical mastery and unwavering teamwork, she said she missed the simple, tactile joys of life on Earth.

While she could keep up with her family through video calls and even enjoyed following the latest news and rumours, there were things Ms. Williams couldn’t replace from orbit — the soft rain on her skin, the wind brushing her face, the feel of sand beneath her feet, and, most of all, the company of her dogs.

“I look at our planet, and not only do I feel the heartbeat of all the people, family, and friends I know, but also the animals that I love. It’s amazing to see them in action here on our planet. This is our planet where they live, where the fish swim, where all the trees grow. And not being able to be part of that… that was deeply painful,” she added.

Born to a Gujarati father, Deepak Pandya, from Jhulasan in Mehsana district, and a Slovenian mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, Ms. Williams took the occasion to thank India for embracing her as its daughter.

Recalling her first space mission, she admitted she was initially sceptical when her father told her that people across the country were praying for her safe return.

“I said to him, ‘I don’t believe you. This can’t happen.’ And then, when I came home, I actually saw newspaper articles, and I realised it was true. A friend of mine was in the Himalayas at an elementary school and told me, ‘your picture is at the school.’ This is so heartfelt, so warming to me, that I have been taken as a daughter of India,” she said.

Ms. Williams first launched aboard space shuttle Discovery with STS-116 in December 2006 and returned aboard Atlantis with the STS-117 crew. In 2012, she lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 127-day mission as part of Expedition 32/33 and went on to serve as space station commander for Expedition 33.

The four-day KLF literary extravaganza is hosting over 400 speakers, including Nobel Laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah and Abhijit Banerjee, authors Kiran Desai and Shashi Tharoor, historian Romila Thapar, essayist Pico Iyer, Jnanpith winner Pratibha Ray, sports icons Rohan Bopanna and Ben Johnson, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

KLF 2026, now in its ninth edition, will come to a close on January 25, 2026.

Published – January 23, 2026 11:47 am IST