HOUSTON — NASA’s first astronaut close encounter with the moon in over 50 years will become a reality today (April 6), and you’ll be able to follow it live online. But you will need to know when to tune in and for how long, and for that, we’ve got you covered.
Wiseman and his Artemis 2 crewmates — pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — will be the first humans to see the moon up close since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
They are the first astronauts to visit the moon in the 21st century, and they will see parts of the moon that NASA’s Apollo astronauts were never able to, like the poles of the far side. They’ll also see a rare solar eclipse from beyond the moon.
To help you know what to expect, here’s a timeline of NASA’s Artemis 2 moon flyby day, hour by hour.
Time (in EDT/GMT) | Event | What to know |
|---|---|---|
9:50 a.m. EDT / 1350 GMT | Artemis 2 crew wakes up | This begins Flight Day 6. Flyby day. NASA will play the crew a song. |
1 p.m. EDT / 1700 GMT | NASA’s main livestream begins | This is a special broadcast. The 24/7 feed will transition to this. |
1:56 p.m. EDT / 1756 GMT | Artemis 2 surpasses Apollo 13 distance record | The Orion ship will fly farther than Apollo 13, going beyond 248,655 miles from Earth. |
2:10 p.m. EDT / 1810 GMT | Artemis 2 crew comments on beating Apollo 13 record | The Artemis 2 crew will comment on their new record, but we’ll get audio only. |
2:15 p.m. EDT / 1815 GMT | Orion cabin configured for flyby | The astronauts will darken the cabin lights and prep cameras and other gear. |
2:45 p.m. EDT / 1845 GMT | Seven-hour moon flyby observation period begins | The Artemis 2 crew will observe both near and far sides of the moon. The main phase lasts five hours. |
4:35 p.m. EDT / 2035 GMT | Interior views of Orion | NASA will show inside views of Orion during the flyby. |
Ongoing. | Observations continue. | The crew has 35 targets for 10 science objectives. They may see the Apollo 14 and Apollo 12 landing sites. |
6:47 p.m. EDT / 2247 GMT | Loss of signal | NASA will temporarily lose contact with Artemis 2. It should last 40 minutes. |
7:02 p.m. EDT / 2307 GMT | Artemis 2 closest to moon | Orion will be about 4,070 miles above the moon at closest approach. |
7:05 p.m. EDT / 2305 GMT | Artemis 2 reaches its farthest point from Earth | Orion will be at its farthest from Earth, at about 252,760 miles away. |
7:27 p.m. EDT / 2327 GMT | Reacquisition of signal | Mission Control should reacquire signal with Artemis 2. |
8:35 p.m. EDT / 0035 GMT on April 7 | Artemis 2 sees solar eclipse | The astronauts will see the moon block the sun in a total solar eclipse. It will last 53 minutes. |
9:20 p.m. / 0120 GMT on April 7 | Artemis 2 lunar flyby observation period ends | The flyby observing period ends. The crew begins sending some imagery to Earth. |
Kelsey Young, Artemis 2 lunar science lead, said NASA has 10 science objectives and 35 different targets for the Artemis 2 crew to aim for during the flyby.
The astronauts will work in two-person shifts over five hours of the main flyby period. They’ll use a tablet-based Lunar Targeting Plan app to record voice observations of their targets while also taking potentially thousands of photos of moon craters, plains and mountains.
“We’ve got a jam-packed plan for them tomorrow, and it ultimately all traces down to our objectives,” Young said.
The astronauts have had several opportunities to observe the moon as they closed in on their lunar flyby. Based on their descriptions of the moon, NASA’s lunar science team can’t wait to hear the Artemis 2 crew’s observations from today’s flyby.
“They crushed it,” said Jennifer Hellmann, an Artemis 2 science team lead from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. “We were excited for the flyby before, don’t get me wrong. But we are, like, super, super excited now because they’re so good! They’re so well trained; they know what they’re talking about.”
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