Artemis II’s closest approach to the moon will occur during blackout, at 7:02 p.m., when the ship will be just 4,066 miles above the lunar surface. That distance isn’t much compared to the quarter million miles the crew will have traveled to get to the moon, but it’s a lot next to the mere 60-mile distance at which the Apollo astronauts would orbit the moon. At 8:35 p.m. the crew will be treated to a dramatic sky show when they witness a solar eclipse, as the moon moves into the path of the sun.
At 9:20 p.m., the astronauts will conclude their lunar observations, and at 9:32 p.m. the solar eclipse will end. At 10:50 p.m., the crew will hold a live broadcast, as physics again steers their ship away from the moon and back toward Earth, aiming for a Pacific Ocean splashdown on April 10 at 8:07 p.m.—the first splashdown by a lunar crew since Apollo 17 returned to Earth on Dec. 19, 1972. Before blasting off from the moon, Gene Cernan, the commander of that mission, said, “We leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” That return, 54 years in the making, will soon be in the books.
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