Alex Edwards

So the capsule is recovered, the crew are flying to home. Artemis III is the next flight, ideally in spring 2027 to hit the planned 10 month cadence, and there's a lot to do: * The core booster is about to leave the factory * SRB segments are rolling into KSC * The Mobile Launch Tower Needs repairs (again) * NASA needs to either use its last ICPS, or identify substitutes (like structural test articles) * Lockheed need to deliver an Orion spacecraft ahead of schedule. * KSC needs to stack all this. * SpaceX & Blue Origin need to get HLS hardware in orbit for the test. * Axiom should deliver suits for testing. * And of course, NASA needs to select some astronauts for this test flight. In the meantime the moon will be visited by multiple landers from US providers under the CLPS program, hopefully most of them make soft landings on their legs.

On the helicopter leaving the ship right now. This planet is impossibly beautiful from every altitude I’ve seen it…surface to 250,000 miles

A rare treat to watch a touchdown between February and August.

Orion's main parachute has deployed. The spacecraft has a system of 11 chutes that will slow it down from around 300 mph to 20 mph for splashdown. Get more updates on the Artemis II blog: nasa.gov/blogs/artemis/

And there's SM Separation - so glad we got that view from the service module:

Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy! 🫶 The Artemis II astronauts have splashed down at 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11), bringing their historic 10-day mission around the Moon to an end.

OH. MY. GOD. THIS IS THE MILKY WAY SHOT BY THE ARTEMIS II CREW. LOOK AT ALL THOSE STARS!!!!

One benefit to the older DSLRs they brought with them to the moon I didn’t think of, was they have an optical viewfinder. Optical observations are superior to digital in many ways. Modern digital cameras are amazing but that is something they’ve lost.

Artemis II launch shot on film

1968 - the arrival 1972 - the farewell 2026 - the return

Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back. Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: nasa.gov/artemis-ii-mul…

the astronomy community is getting FED today

Record broken and history made. @NASA's Artemis II crew has officially surpassed the distance record set by Apollo 13, traveling farther from Earth than any humans before them. A new generation is redefining what’s possible, one milestone at a time.

One last look at Earth before we reach the Moon. This view of the Earth was captured on April 5, the fourth day of the Artemis II mission, from inside the Orion spacecraft. The four astronauts will reach their closest approach of the Moon tomorrow, April 6.

United Launch Alliance has initiated the countdown for launch of the Atlas V rocket to deploy 29 advanced broadband satellites into space for Amazon Leo. Our overnight launch opportunity opens at exactly 1:45:30 a.m. EDT (0545:30 UTC) for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch countdown is a tightly scripted sequence of procedures and steps over the next seven hours that will complete pre-launch testing, fill the rocket with propellants and put systems into flight mode. Our live status blog begins at p.m. EDT (0245 UTC) just prior to the start of fueling operations and the livestream starts 20 minutes before launch. bit.ly/av_leo5 // @Amazonleo

A bald eagle watches the launch of Artemis II: a powerful omen

Vail with a 12” storm just in time for their last weekend of the season! 11” at Steamboat, 9” for Snowmass. 3-6” for most of the Summit County mountains. Not bad! #COwx

Nominal translunar injection burn complete. The Artemis II crew is officially on the way to the Moon. America is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon. This time, farther than ever before.

Fly Us to the Moon! 🎶 @NASA’s Orion spacecraft has completed its trans-lunar injection burn and humanity is on its way into deep space for a lunar flyby!