Artemis Two: Astronauts' Historic Lunar Flyby

0:00It's April 11th. You're listening to Sydney News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Cory with the story. Four astronauts just wrapped up the Artemis 2 mission, blasting deeper into space than any humans before, 400,000 kilometers from Earth, on a lunar flyby. They covered over 1,117,000 kilometers total, orbiting Earth twice before swinging around the moon's dark side. This crewed test flight kicked off NASA's push to get back to the lunar surface. The team spotted a total solar eclipse from space and snapped never before seen shots of craters. They even floated names for two new ones, integrity for their Orion capsule, and care to honor Commander Reed Weisman's late wife. Everything clicked smooth during the outbound leg, with the crew radioing back mind-blowing views visible to the naked eye. Back home, folks held their breath through reentry jitters, especially after the uncrewed Artemis one showed heat shield wear. Critics worried, but NASA cleared it safe, and the shield made of 186 Afco blocks held perfect, shrugging off plasma blackout, and scorching heat.

1:08Tense maneuvers nailed it. Module separation, trajectory tweaks, rolls away from junk, then entry into Earth's atmosphere. Six minutes of radio silence later, contact restored, with a flawless trajectory call. Splashdown hit like a bullseye in the Pacific off Southern California shortly after 507 PM Pacific time. Crew emerged grinning, wise men, glover, coke, and Hanson, all green and steady hoisted to the USS John P. Murtha in under two hours for checks. Nine days, one hour 32 minutes, 15 seconds in, they proved the path clear for moon landings by 2028 and Mars beyond.