Summary

The four Artemis II astronauts made history Tuesday by linking up by radio with crewmembers aboard the International Space Station as they traveled home from the moon, a first for NASA’s Artemis program and for deep-space communications.

Mission Control in Houston arranged the call between the lunar-bound crew and the orbiting lab’s three NASA residents and one French resident, allowing the astronauts to connect with “friends aboard the International Space Station” while they were still flying hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman told the station crew, “We have been waiting for this like you can’t imagine.” For Christina Koch, who flew aboard Artemis II, and Jessica Meir, who was aboard the station, the conversation marked an off-Earth reunion despite the distance separating them—about 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) at the time of the call. Koch and Meir previously worked together during a 2019 all-female spacewalk outside the space station.

Koch told her “astro-sister” that she had hoped for a meeting again in space but “but I never thought it would be like this — it’s amazing.” Meir replied, “I’m so happy that we are back in space together,” adding “even if we are a few miles apart,” as Mission Control coordinated the interaction.

Alongside the call, the Artemis II crew was also focused on science and mission data. By late Tuesday afternoon, the astronauts had sent back more than 50 gigabytes’ worth of pictures and other information from the prior day’s lunar rendezvous, which NASA said set a new distance record for humanity. Mission Control highlighted an Earthset photo that it said was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s Earthrise image from 1968, and Kelsey Young, Mission Control’s lead lunar scientist, said the science lessons from the images are only beginning.

During a debriefing with Young, the astronauts described how they noticed a cascade of pinpricks of light on the lunar surface caused by impacts from cosmic debris. Young said the flashes lasted mere milliseconds and happened to coincide with Monday evening’s total solar eclipse, but she said it was too soon to determine whether the crew observed an actual meteor shower or more routine micrometeoroid hits.

Koch also described being struck by Earth’s appearance from the moon, saying it was not only its beauty but “how much blackness there was around it.” She told the station crew that the view “The specialness and preciousness of that really is emphasized” when looking back at the home planet.

Artemis II is the first lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, and Wiseman and his crewmates plan to end their nearly 10-day test flight with a splashdown off the San Diego coast on Friday. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha left port Tuesday for the target zone, setting the stage for next year’s Artemis III, which NASA has described as a lunar lander docking demonstration in orbit around Earth, with Artemis IV scheduled for 2028.

The astronauts also continued to work through a reported issue aboard the Orion capsule, including the system’s toilet, which Mission Control said did not require maintenance on Tuesday. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told the crew following the lunar flyby Monday night that “We definitely have to fix some of the plumbing” ahead of the next Artemis mission, with engineers suspecting a clogged filter in the overboard flushing system.