Orion Crew Returns from Moon Flyby

0:00The Artemis-2 crew is on its way home after a groundbreaking fly-by of the moon. NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, launched from Kennedy Space, center on April 1st. Their 10-day mission took them around the far side of the moon, and they're set to splash down in the Pacific Ocean of San Diego on Friday. Earlier this week, the teen spent hours on the Orion spacecraft snapping photos of moon surfaces no human eyes had seen before. They also caught a stunning solar eclipse right from space on April 6, around 8.30pm, watching the sun's corona glow around the re. Moon's something invisible from Earth. The crew made it personal by naming a crater after Commander Wiseman's late wife Carol, who passed from cancer in 2020. They dubbed another one, Integrity, honoring their spacecraft. This trip shattered records, too, pushing over 250,000 miles from Earth, farther than Apollo 13 went back in 1970.

1:03Now on the return leg, Orion's using gravity from the moon and Earth to sling back safely, with reentry hitting up to 3000 degrees. Fahrenheit, before parachuting into the ocean, just like the old Apollo days. NASA's got real-time tracking on their Artemis orbit site and live video feeds from the craft until splash down. As these pioneers wrap up the first crewed Orion flight, they're paving the way for Artemis III's moon landing. Humanity's giant leap keeps getting closer. That wraps Tampa Bay News today, brought to you with AI.