Artemis II Commander Experienced Terrifying Moment When Spacecraft Overshot Lunar Turn-Back Point
Commander Reid Wiseman briefly feared the crew would not return home after the Orion spacecraft continued past its designated maximum distance from Earth.
What happened
During the Artemis II mission's sixth day, Commander Reid Wiseman watched the spacecraft's distance counter surpass the planned maximum distance of 219,667 nautical miles from Earth. The odometer continued incrementing to 219,668 and then 219,669 nautical miles, causing Wiseman to fear the crew could not return. When the counter began decreasing back to 219,668 nautical miles, Wiseman announced "We're going home" and the crew cheered. Wiseman revealed this incident at the Starmus VIII festival in Tenerife, Spain, noting that the other three crewmembers—NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—were unaware of his moment of fear at the time.
Context
The Artemis II mission, which launched April 1 from Kennedy Space Center, was the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft and the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. The 10-day mission involved traveling around the lunar far side and returning to Earth. Wiseman's account illustrates the human experience of spaceflight and the reliance on ground control systems; he later credited NASA's Earth-based engineering and flight control teams as "the true heroes of this mission." The Artemis II crew was awarded the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication at Starmus VIII for their work, which included nearly continuous livestreaming of their activities.