The Artemis II mission 's Orion spacecraft is halfway to the Moon , and preparations are already underway for one of the mission's most important moments : the flyby scheduled for the evening of Monday, April 6. From the windows of Integrity, as the spacecraft has been named, the Moon appears ever closer. The first thing the astronauts did was look out: " We all had a look of joy at that moment ... now we can see the Moon from the docking port. It's a wonderful sight ," said Christina Koch at the control center in Houston. Her colleagues Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen shared the feeling.

Navigation is proceeding so quickly that none of the planned maneuvers to correct the spacecraft's trajectory toward the Moon were necessary. The flight program initially called for the ignition of the main engine of the service module, which controls the spacecraft's propulsion, built by the European Space Agency and 20 companies from 13 European countries, including Italy. The maneuver that placed the spacecraft on its course for the Moon on April 3, however, was executed "with such precision that flight controllers in Houston decided to cancel the first of three maneuvers to correct the spacecraft's trajectory toward the Moon," ESA wrote in X.

The astronauts have thus had more time to review the procedures planned for April 6 , when the spacecraft will fly by the Moon at the minimum distance envisaged for the mission. Their tasks will be primarily scientific, with the main one being an observation campaign lasting several hours to identify and describe lunar formations. On the nearside of the Moon, they will be able to orient themselves using easily recognizable landmarks, such as the Sea of Tranquillity, where the Apollo 11 mission landed on July 20, 1969, and the Sea of Crises. The most difficult task, and also the most eagerly awaited by the scientific community and NASA, will be orienting themselves on the farside of the Moon : there, the astronauts will be able to photograph structures never observed before. The only unexpected event of the day was a burning smell coming from the toilet, which the astronauts described to the control center in Houston as similar to that of an old electric heater turned on after having been unused for a while. The cause has not yet been determined, with air traffic controllers classifying the odor as “unknown” and saying, “Overall, we have no particular concerns.”

A bit of exercise in the shuttle's small gym, experiments, and tests punctuated the rest of the day on board. In particular , the astronauts practiced the shuttle's emergency communications system in deep space and first aid procedures. Then, some relaxation at the table, and finally, an unscheduled event, when Canadian Hansen took off his shirt in front of the cameras to treat himself to what astronauts consider the equivalent of a bath: a cleansing with the help of a small damp towel. It was enough to embarrass control, which decided not to broadcast the images on the public channel.

(Unioneonline)

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