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Nasa names astronauts to next moon mission, first crew under artemis.

Claire A. O'Shea

Public affairs specialist.

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The agencies revealed the crew members Monday during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s John

NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis. The agencies revealed the crew members Monday during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“The Artemis II crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars. This is their crew, this is our crew, this is humanity’s crew,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, each has their own story, but, together, they represent our creed: E pluribus unum – out of many, one. Together, we are ushering in a new era of exploration for a new generation of star sailors and dreamers – the Artemis Generation.”

The crew assignments are as follows: Commander Reid Wiseman , Pilot Victor Glover , Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch , and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen . They will work as a team to execute an ambitious set of demonstrations during the flight test.

The approximately 10-day Artemis II flight test will launch on the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket, prove the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems, and validate the capabilities and techniques needed for humans to live and work in deep space.

“We are going back to the Moon and Canada is at the center of this exciting journey,” said the Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, the minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency. “Thanks to our longstanding collaboration with NASA, a Canadian astronaut will fly on this historic mission. On behalf of all Canadians, I want to congratulate Jeremy for being at the forefront of one of the most ambitious human endeavors ever undertaken. Canada’s participation in the Artemis program is not only a defining chapter of our history in space, but also a testament to the friendship and close partnership between our two nations.”

The flight, set to build upon the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission completed in December, will set the stage for the first woman and first person of color on the Moon through the Artemis program, paving the way for future for long-term human exploration missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars. This is the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

“For the first time in more than 50 years, these individuals – the Artemis II crew – will be the first humans to fly to the vicinity of the Moon. Among the crew are the first woman, first person of color, and first Canadian on a lunar mission, and all four astronauts will represent the best of humanity as they explore for the benefit of all,” said Director Vanessa Wyche, NASA Johnson. “This mission paves the way for the expansion of human deep space exploration and presents new opportunities for scientific discoveries, commercial, industry and academic partnerships and the Artemis Generation.”

Meet Artemis II Astronauts

This will be Wiseman’s second trip into space, serving previously as a flight engineer aboard the International Station for Expedition 41 from May through November 2014. Wiseman has logged more than 165 days in space, including almost 13 hours as lead spacewalker during two trips outside the orbital complex. Prior to his assignment, Wiseman served as chief of the Astronaut Office from December 2020 until November 2022.

The mission will be Glover’s second spaceflight, serving previously as pilot on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1, which landed May 2, 2021, after 168 days in space. As a flight engineer aboard the space station for Expedition 64, he contributed to scientific investigations, technology demonstrations, and participated in four spacewalks.

Koch also will be making her second flight into space on the Artemis II mission. She served as flight engineer aboard the space station for Expedition 59, 60, and 61. Koch set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalks.

Representing Canada, Hansen is making his first flight to space. A colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces and former fighter pilot, Hansen holds a Bachelor of Science in space science from Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, and a Master of Science in physics from the same institution in 2000, with a research focus on Wide Field of View Satellite Tracking. He was one of two recruits selected by CSA in May 2009 through the third Canadian Astronaut Recruitment Campaign and has served as Capcom in NASA’s Mission Control Center at Johnson and, in 2017, became the first Canadian to be entrusted with leading a NASA astronaut class, leading the training of astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada.

“I could not be prouder that these brave four will kickstart our journeys to the Moon and beyond,” said Director of Flight Operations Norm Knight, NASA Johnson. “They represent exactly what an astronaut corps should be: a mix of highly capable and accomplished individuals with the skills and determination to take on any trial as a team. The Artemis II mission will be challenging, and we’ll test our limits as we prepare to put future astronauts on the Moon. With Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy at the controls, I have no doubt we’re ready to face every challenge that comes our way.”

Through Artemis missions, NASA will use innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Then, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.

For more information about the crew, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-ii

Lee este comunicado de prensa en español aquí.

Rachel Kraft Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 [email protected]   Dan Huot Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 [email protected]  

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Meet the four astronauts who will soon take a trip to the Moon

NASA has selected the four astronauts that will travel to the Moon during the upcoming Artemis 2 mission, which will be humanity’s first crewed return to the Moon in more than 50 years.

The four astronauts are: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

“The Artemis 2 crew represents thousands of people working tirelessly to bring us to the stars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson before announcing the crew during a  live event broadcast on NASA TV . “This is their crew. This is our crew. This is humanity’s crew.”

Get to know the Artemis 2 crew

Reid wiseman (commander):.

Formerly NASA’s chief astronaut,  Wiseman  is a 47-year-old captain in the U.S. Navy that was selected to be an astronaut in 2009. In 2014, he spent 165 days aboard the  International Space Station . During this time, Wiseman undertook two spacewalks and helped carry out more than 300 scientific experiments in areas ranging from human physiology to medicine to Earth science to astrophysics. During that stretch, Wiseman and his team also set a record by completing 82 hours of research in a single week.

Victor Glover (Pilot):

A 46-year-old captain in the U.S. Navy,  Glover  was selected to be an astronaut in 2013. In November 2020, he served as pilot of the  first operational mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule , spending 168 days on the International Space Station. Glover was also the first black man to be assigned to a space station crew and has carried out four total spacewalks. Some colleagues call Glover “Ike,” a nickname that one of his first commanding officers jokingly gave him. It stands for  “I know everything. ”

Christina Koch (Mission Specialist):

Previously an electrical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland,  Koch  was selected to be an astronaut in 2013. At 44 years old, Koch has carried out six spacewalks totaling more than 42 hours. She also currently holds the  record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman , which she set while staying aboard the International Space Station for a whopping 328 days straight.

Jeremy Hansen (Mission Specialist):

One of four active Canadian astronauts,  Hansen  is a 47-year-old former fighter pilot. He was selected to be an astronaut by the  Canadian Space Agency  (CSA) in 2009, but he has yet to fly to space. During his time representing the CSA at NASA, Hansen has served as a capsule communicator, relaying information between mission control in Houston and astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

The Artemis 2 crew was selected by NASA’s Director of Flight Operations, Norm Night, and NASA’s Chief Astronaut, Joe Acabá, under the supervision of Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche.

Humanity returns to the Moon

The Artemis 2 mission, slated for launch in 2024, will not see humans return to the Moon’s surface. Instead, the crew will take a trip around the Moon, testing the technologies required to eventually land humans on the lunar surface during Artemis 3.

“Artemis 1 was a resounding success,” said Night. “And Artemis 2 will leverage that by putting humans in the loop, executing operations in the critical path leading to new footprints on the lunar surface.”

“[Artemis 2] is a mission that is significant in many ways,” said Nelson. “It’s a demonstration of our ability to push the boundaries of human achievement. It’s a testament to the unwavering passion of the team that will make it possible. And it’s a message to the world: We choose to go back to the Moon and then onto Mars, and we’re going to do it together, because in the 21st century, NASA explores the cosmos with international partners.”

In total, the Artemis 2 mission to the Moon and back will take about 10 days to complete. And once the crew-carrying Orion spacecraft makes its way back, it will reenter Earth’s atmosphere at a blistering 30 times the speed of sound before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

“The Moon is a symbol of our can-do spirit,” said Nelson. “And over the course of the Artemis missions, the first woman and the first person of color will take giant leaps on the lunar surface. It’s been more than a half-century since astronauts journeyed to the Moon. Well folks, that’s about to change.”

Along with members of the press and many elected officials, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, several surviving  Apollo astronauts  were also present at the event.

“We’ve made many giant leaps in the past 60 years, fulfilling  President Kennedy’s goal  of landing a person on the Moon,” said Wyche. “And today, we stand on the shoulders of giants as we reach further into the stars and push forward to the Moon once again — and on to Mars.”

“We will show what is possible when we dare to reach,” said Nelson.

An updated list of space missions: Current and upcoming voyages

NASA bids farewell to the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter with new photos

NASA is taking astronaut applications. Here’s how to apply

It’s hard to grow food in space. These sensors can help.

Remembering Tom Stafford, the Apollo commander who did his part to thaw the Cold War

The upgrades to spacesuits that need to be made sooner rather than later

Isolation and annoying co-workers: Solving the stress of a trip to Mars

Studying lake deposits could give scientists insight into ancient traces of life on Mars

Evidence shows the Moon’s south pole is probably not the best place to land

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U.S. Moon Landing: How to Watch and What to Know

If all goes as planned, Odysseus, a private spacecraft, will touch down on the lunar surface on Thursday. It will be the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years.

By Kenneth Chang

Visit The Times live blog for the latest information on the Odysseus moon lander’s journey , including an updated landing time.

On Wednesday morning, a robotic lunar lander launched by a Houston company got closer to reaching the moon.

The company, Intuitive Machines, announced that its Odysseus spacecraft had fired its engine for six minutes and 48 seconds, slowing it enough to be pulled by the moon’s gravity into a circular orbit 57 miles above the surface.

On Thursday, it is scheduled to touch down on the moon. If all goes well, it will become the first private spacecraft ever to make a soft landing there and the first American mission to arrive there since Apollo 17 in 1972.

When is the landing and how can I watch it?

Odysseus is expected to land on the lunar surface at 4:24 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. (Late Thursday morning, Intuitive Machines announced it was moving up the landing time by about an hour, noting also that it had raised the spacecraft’s orbit.)

Although it is a private mission, the main customer is NASA, which paid $118 million for the delivery of six instruments to the moon. NASA TV will stream coverage of the landing beginning at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The Times is providing updates on the landing live in a blog.

Where is the spacecraft going to land?

Odysseus is aiming for a spot in the south polar region, a flat plain outside the Malapert A crater. (Malapert A is a satellite crater of the larger Malapert crater, which is named after Charles Malapert, a 17th-century Belgian astronomer.)

The landing site is about 185 miles from the moon’s south pole.

Some of those craters in that region remain in perpetual shadow, and are a particular area of interest because water ice has been detected in them. Previous American moon missions have landed in the equatorial regions.

How will Odysseus land?

The spacecraft will fire its engine so that the circular orbit changes to an elliptical one, and will drop to within about six miles of the lunar surface. From this point onward in the landing sequence, Odysseus will operate completely on its own. After coasting for an hour, the engine will start up again, and the spacecraft will begin its powered descent. It will have to slow down from its initial speed of about 4,000 miles per hour.

Odysseus will track its position through cameras, matching the patterns of craters with stored maps and measuring its altitude by bouncing laser beams off the surface.

About 1.2 miles from the landing site, the spacecraft will pivot to an upright orientation, with sensors looking for a safe spot.

For the last 50 feet or so of the descent, Odysseus will rely solely on its inertial measurement units, which act as the spacecraft’s inner ear, measuring the forces of acceleration. It will stop using the camera and the altitude-measuring laser to avoid being fooled by dust kicked up by the engine’s exhaust.

What will the lander do on the moon?

Because solar panels provide the spacecraft’s power, its mission will last only about seven days until the sun sets on the landing site. That’s when a two-week long, frigid lunar night begins, and Odysseus was not designed to survive those conditions.

The six NASA instruments carried to the moon by Odysseus and what their tasks are:

A laser retroreflector array that bounces back laser beams.

A LIDAR instrument that precisely measures the spacecraft’s altitude and velocity as it descends to the lunar surface.

A stereo camera that will capture video of the plume of dust produced by Odysseus’ engines during landing.

A low-frequency radio receiver that measures the effects of charged particles on radio signals near the lunar surface, providing information that could aid the design of future radio observation on the moon.

A beacon, Lunar Node-1, that will demonstrate an autonomous navigation system.

An instrument in the propellant tank that uses radio waves to measure fuel levels.

The lander is also carrying other payloads, including a camera built by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.; a precursor instrument for a future moon telescope; and an art project by Jeff Koons .

How’s the mission going, so far?

Mostly very well.

On Feb. 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sent Odysseus on a trajectory toward the moon. After the spacecraft separated, it successfully turned itself on. An initial engine burn to test the propulsion system was postponed because the liquid oxygen propellant took longer to chill down than ground-based tests had predicted.

Engineers adjusted the ignition procedures, and the burn was successfully performed on Feb. 16.

Along the way, the spacecraft transmitted photographs taken of both Earth and the moon.

Flight controllers fired the engine twice more, on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, to fine-tune the spacecraft’s path to the moon. The second effort was precise enough that the flight controllers decided to skip a planned third correction.

How big is the spacecraft?

The Intuitive Machines lander is a hexagonal cylinder with six landing legs, standing about 14 feet tall and five feet wide. For fans of “Dr. Who,” the science fiction television show, the body of the lander is roughly the size of the Tardis, the time-traveling spacecraft that, on the outside, looks like an old British police telephone booth.

At launch, with a full load of propellant, the lander weighed about 4,200 pounds.

Why isn’t NASA running this mission?

Odysseus is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which allows private companies to send experiments to the moon and spares NASA from building and operating its own moon landers.

The space agency hopes this approach will be much cheaper, letting it send more missions more frequently while it is preparing for U.S. astronauts to return to the moon as part of its Artemis program.

Kenneth Chang has been at The Times since 2000, writing about physics, geology, chemistry, and the planets. Before becoming a science writer, he was a graduate student whose research involved the control of chaos. More about Kenneth Chang

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1969 Moon Landing

By: History.com Editors

Updated: July 17, 2023 | Original: August 23, 2018

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930-) became the first humans ever to land on the moon. About six-and-a-half hours later, Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. As he took his first step, Armstrong famously said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The Apollo 11 mission occurred eight years after President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, took place in 1972.

JFK's Pledge Leads to Start of Apollo Program

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins in an appeal President Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." 

At the time, the United States was still trailing the Soviet Union in space developments, and Cold War -era America welcomed Kennedy's bold proposal. In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission , testing the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. 

Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire.

President Richard Nixon spoke with Armstrong and Aldrin via a telephone radio transmission shortly after they planted the American flag on the lunar surface. Nixon considered it the "most historic phone call ever made from the White House."

Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of employees forged ahead, and in October 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. 

In December of the same year, Apollo 8 took three astronauts to the far side of the moon and back, and in March 1969 Apollo 9 tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. That May, the three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.

Timeline of the 1969 Moon Landing

At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins (1930-) aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old civilian research pilot, was the commander of the mission.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:17 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston, Texas, a now-famous message: "The Eagle has landed."

At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. As he made his way down the module's ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his progress and beamed the signal back to Earth, where hundreds of millions watched in great anticipation.

At 10:56 p.m., as Armstrong stepped off the ladder and planted his foot on the moon’s powdery surface, he spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be "that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface 19 minutes later, and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests and spoke with President Richard Nixon (1913-94) via Houston. 

By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon—July 1969 A.D.—We came in peace for all mankind."

At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:50 p.m. on July 24.

How Many Times Did the US Land on the Moon?

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by. Apollo 13 had to abort its lunar landing due to technical difficulties. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan (1934-2017) and Harrison Schmitt (1935-) of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. 

The Apollo program was a costly and labor-intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today's dollars). The expense was justified by Kennedy's 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished, ongoing missions lost their viability.

Apollo 11 Photos

HISTORY Vault: Moon Landing: The Lost Tapes

On the 50th anniversary of the historic moon landing, this documentary unearths lost tapes of the Apollo 11 astronauts, and explores the dangers and challenges of the mission to the moon.

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September 8, 2023

• Escape Games
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You really had fun on the moon, things have become lively there unlike a hundred years ago, you were there and saw the place barren and lifeless, now it’s fun with all the recreational stuff that’s there. But now this adventure is over and you need to return to Earth, but there is a problem with the ship though and it can’t go just yet.

Escape players, something seems to have happened for this spaceship is experiencing a thing and it’s enough to stop it from escaping this space body . Okay, looks like you need to take care of this along with your friends, will you all be able to find everything that is needed so that this ship can finally launch?

Moon Trip is the newest point-and-click space escape game created by Tennpa Games.

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Artemis astronauts will need a vehicle on the moon. NASA hired 3 companies to design it

Nasa has hired three companies to create preliminary designs for lunar vehicles that artemis astronauts will use to traverse the moon as early as 2029..

For the first time in five decades, American astronauts are on the cusp of returning to the moon .

NASA's Artemis missions, the first lunar program since the Apollo era, aims to send astronauts back to the moon ahead of the larger goal of one day reaching Mars. And when the day comes in about two years that those intrepid explorers make it to the lunar surface, they'll need a vehicle that can help them navigate the celestial body's crater-pocked terrain.

The U.S. space agency announced Wednesday that it has hired three companies to create preliminary designs for lunar vehicles that can be driven and can also operate autonomously. Of those three companies, only one will ultimately be selected to build the vehicle that will make it to the moon, NASA said.

Here's what to know about the planned vehicle and the historic Artemis lunar missions ahead.

Solar eclipse: NASA is launching 3 sounding rockets into space during the total solar eclipse

Why NASA needs a lunar terrain vehicle

NASA began seeking proposals in May for a next-generation lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to help astronauts traverse and transport cargo across the moon's unexplored south polar region during upcoming Artemis missions.

Officials do not anticipate that the vehicle will be ready by the time astronauts of Artemis III make their way to the moon's surface sometime in 2026.

The vehicle, which would be used for crewed operations beginning with Artemis V in 2029, is intended to be a cross between an Apollo-era lunar rover and an uncrewed Mars rover like Perseverance or Curiosity, NASA said. Giving the vehicle robotic, remote operation capabilities will allow for scientific tests and exploration to continue even when astronauts are not present on the moon, according to NASA.

NASA had asked companies to create proposed designs that accommodate two suited astronauts and include a robotic arm or other mechanism. The vehicle will also need to be able to survive the extreme temperatures of the lunar south pole, a region where water ice is thought to be abundant.

Water ice in the region would not only help sustain astronauts on the surface, but it also would be a source of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel as NASA looks ahead to missions to Mars .

“We will use the LTV to travel to locations we might not otherwise be able to reach on foot, increasing our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries,” NASA Chief Exploration Scientist Jacob Bleacher said in a Wednesday statement. “With the Artemis crewed missions, and during remote operations when there is not a crew on the surface, we are enabling science and discovery on the moon year around.”

How to watch NASA's lunar vehicle announcement

The televised event took place at 4 p.m. EST Wednesday at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The news conference aired live on  NASA+ , NASA Television, the  NASA app , and the U.S. space agency’s  website .

NASA's official YouTube channel provided a live stream of the even and also released a 90-second trailer about the autonomous vehicle after the announcement.

Watch it here:

Astronauts will return to moon as part of Artemis missions

In previous years, NASA and space agencies in other nations have once again set their sights on the moon in a renewed interest in reaching the lunar surface.

For the United States, American astronauts have not set foot on the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972. NASA's Artemis program hopes to get the nation back to the moon to establish a base of operations ahead of crewed trips to Mars.

NASA had  intended  to launch its  Artemis II  astronauts into orbit by the end of the year on a 10-day trip circumnavigating the moon, ahead of a moon landing itself a year later for Artemis III. But the Artemis program missions have  since been delayed  by at least a year after NASA encountered a slew of issues, including a battery flaw on the vehicle that will ferry astronauts to the moon.

In the meantime, preparations have continued to ensure the program stays on track.

In mid-March, SpaceX conducted its most successful test yet of the Starship rocket that will one day ferry U.S. astronauts to the moon's surface. NASA had awarded the company a $2.9 billion contract  in 2021 to develop the first commercial human lander for its Artemis III mission.

The contract for the lunar terrain vehicles is worth up to $4.6 billion over the next 15 years, NASA said. Under the contract, NASA would not own the vehicles themselves but is instead only purchasing the service of creating them.

One of the companies selected to design the lunar vehicle, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, was also the private company that in February became the fist commercial entity to ever land an uncrewed spacecraft on the moon's surface . NASA, which was the primary customer for the mission, paid a hefty sum to have a payload of scientific instruments included aboard the lander to collect data that will help the agency prepare for its own lunar missions.

Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colo.; and Venturi Astrolab of Hawthorne, Calif. were also selected to come up with preliminary designs, according to NASA. The agency will work with the three companies for a year before NASA will choose one of them for the demonstration phase.

“We look forward to the development of the Artemis generation lunar exploration vehicle to help us advance what we learn at the Moon,” Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said in a Wednesday statement. “This vehicle will greatly increase our astronauts’ ability to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also serving as a science platform between crewed missions.”

Contributing: James Powel

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

Astronauts get eerie view of Moon’s shadow as it trudges across Earth during solar eclipse

The astronauts living and working on the international space station orbit the earth about every 90 minutes, witnessing 16 sunrises and sunsets day, along with up to five eclipses a year. on monday, the massive black hole from the moon's shadow could be seen from space down on the planet below..

Watch: Colorful eclipse in Arkadelphia, Arkansas

Stephen Morgan and Kendall Smith take us to Arkadelphia, Arkansas during totality. The video is saturated with color.

Astronauts on the International Space Station had an eerie view during the total solar eclipse on Monday as the Moon's shadow raced across the planet's surface.

Waiting for totality on Earth took more than an hour after the partial eclipse began, but the low-Earth orbit's view provided context for how fast the Moon's shadow is moving. According to NASA , the eclipse shadow travels at 1,100 mph at the equator and up to 5,000 mph near the poles.

AMERICA’S TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE DAZZLES COUNTRY AS MILLIONS SCRAMBLE TO FIND BEST VIEW

The astronauts living and working on the ISS orbit the Earth about every 90 minutes, witnessing 16 sunrises and sunsets in 24 hours and up to five eclipses a year.

On Monday, the astronauts could not only see the eclipse as the Moon blocked the face of the Sun, but the Moon's shadow down on Earth as it blocked the sunlight over the path of totality – looking like a floating black hole on Earth down below.

The ISS wasn't the only view of the solar eclipse from space. SpaceX founder Elon Musk shared the video below, which was taken by a Starlink satellite in low-Earth orbit. 

MISS THE APRIL 8TH TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE? HERE’S A LIST OF FUTURE CELESTIAL EVENTS

The video shows the Moon's umbra or shadow as it moves across the planet.

While the Moon was moving in front of the Sun's face, solar and Earth-observing spacecraft recorded the eclipse in real time. 

NOAA's GOES-East satellite tracked the Moon's shadow moving across the Pacific Ocean and North America while the European Space Agency's Proba-2 satellite recorded the eclipse looking toward the Sun. 

NOAA satellite captures total solar eclipse moving across America

Different views from NOAA's GOES East satellite show the umbra or shadow of the Moon during the eclipse sweeping from the Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Canada. (video credit: NOAA)

• Earth & Space
• Spaceflight
• Solar Eclipse

Satellite views of solar eclipse 2024: See the moon's shadow race across North America (video, photos)

Time to track a shadow of the moon.

Satellites saw the moon's shadow from space on Monday (April 8).

The 2024 total solar eclipse was visible in parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico on that day, thrilling millions of spectators across North America  — and from space, satellites could see the shadow of the moon falling across those regions in real-time.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showcased the resulting photos, taken with the organization's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) series. For example, the imager on the GOES-16 satellite tracked the moon's shadow using its advanced baseline imager. 

SpaceX's Starlink satellites also saw the show from above North America — in between their normal jobs of transmitting broadband to remote areas.

Related: Will the 2024 total solar eclipse be visible from space?

NOAA's GOES-16 weather satellite in geostationary orbit tracked the moon's shadow  from a wider view, showing the entire globe of the Earth. 

Meanwhile, the NOAA-20 weather satellite managed to show the difference between the eclipsed portion of North America and how it usually looks during non-eclipsed time, from its own vantage point in Earth orbit.

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Expedition 71 astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) caught the shadow racing across our planet too, as the moon completely blocked the sun from Earth's perspective.

Michael Barrett, a NASA astronaut with Crew-8, previously said equipment on board the ISS right now is also better than what was available on the station during its last opportunity to catch a North American eclipse in 2017.

— Total solar eclipse 2024: Live updates

— Total solar eclipse April 8, 2024: What you'll see if you're outside the path of totality

— Total solar eclipse April 2024: 10 of the biggest cities within in the path of totality

More satellites will join this group in the coming years. NOAA's GOES-U will fly on June 25, if schedules hold, to examine the corona , or outer atmosphere, of the sun. NOAA's Space Weather Follow On L1 (SWFO-L1) is also expected to launch in 2025 to fly a million miles from Earth and examine space weather , aka the effect solar activity has on our planet.

If you're looking to observe future solar eclipses on Earth, we have you covered. Our guide on  how to observe the sun safely  guide tells you what you need to know to look at the sun. We also have a guide to solar eclipse glasses , and how to safely photograph the sun if you'd like to get practicing before the big day.

Submit your story photos! If you capture a photo of the April 8 total solar eclipse or any of these strange effects and would like to share it with Space.com's readers, send photos, videos, comments, and your name, location and content usage permission release to [email protected] .

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

Switzerland signs Artemis Accords to join NASA in moon exploration

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• cmablack Please also include Sen's imagery - it's the first 4K video of the moon's shadow on Earth during a solar eclipse. Reply
• Classical Motion Wow, I was expecting much more symmetry. The shadow must get some angle thru the air. Reply
• billslugg Yeah, whats with the giant smear versus a tidy circle? And some clouds never get dark. It may be the image is mainly infrared in which case the cloud temperature is what it being seen. Maybe the temperature of the cloud tops does not change much during an eclipse. Reply

billslugg said: Yeah, whats with the giant smear versus a tidy circle? And some clouds never get dark. It may be the image is mainly infrared in which case the cloud temperature is what it being seen. Maybe the temperature of the cloud tops does not change much during an eclipse.

Classical Motion said: Wow, I was expecting much more symmetry. The shadow must get some angle thru the air.

• Classical Motion Ok, I gotcha. One needs to be in the middle of the sweep to see the circle. So if it were over St Louis, for that image........it would have been symmetrical. Is that right? Reply
• View All 6 Comments

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OTD in Space – April 17: Apollo 13 Returns

Posted: April 17, 2024 | Last updated: April 17, 2024

On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth after narrowly avoiding a deadly disaster in space. [‘On This Day in Space’ Video Series on Space.com] This was supposed to be the third mission to land on the moon. Astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise launched on April 11 and were two days into their trip to the moon when an oxygen tank exploded, and NASA had to abort the mission. When the astronauts called mission control to report the incident, Swigert uttered the famous quote, "Houston, we've had a problem." With the service module running out of oxygen, they opted to use the lunar lander as a lifeboat. Because the oxygen was also used to power the spacecraft's fuel cells, they were also running out of power. They shut down all nonessential systems and turned down the heat, and spent four cold, miserable days heading back to Earth. They had to go back into the service module for reentry, and they didn't know if their heat shield had been damaged by the explosion. Luckily they survived reentry and safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

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Watch CBS News

Space station crew captures image of moon's shadow during solar eclipse

By Stephen Smith

Updated on: April 9, 2024 / 3:33 PM EDT / CBS News

While millions of people looked skyward at Monday's total solar eclipse on Monday, a handful of earthlings took in a much different view of the rare phenomenon — from the International Space Station.

As the station orbited above southeastern Canada, flight engineers Matthews Dominick and Jeanette Epps managed to photograph and videotape the moon's shadow on Earth about 260 miles below them, NASA said on Monday.

The Expedition 71 crew had the chance to view the moon's shadow on Earth, or umbra, after spending the day completing cargo transfers, spacesuit maintenance and microgravity research, NASA said. The windows on the outpost's cupola — known as its "window to the world" — were open, allowing the astronauts to capture the cool images.

The International Space Station experienced about 90% totality during its flyover, and NASA posted a video of the event on social media:

The Exp 71 crew soared into the Moon’s shadow during the solar eclipse on Monday afternoon while working on cargo transfers, spacesuits, and science. More... https://t.co/8LXGHC95XO pic.twitter.com/kEWnOuu4zP — International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 8, 2024

More than 31 million people live in the  path of totality , the area where the  moon fully blocked out the sun , according to NASA. The path ranged between 108 and 122 miles wide. An additional 150 million people live within 200 miles of the path of totality.

Before soaring into the moon's shadow during the eclipse, the space station crew performed a variety of other tasks on Monday -- including orbital plumbing, fixing a pair of science freezers and ventilation maintenance.

The stunning image of the moon's shadow came just days after NASA released images that its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured of Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri lunar orbiter during a flyby in March.

The two spacecraft, traveling in nearly parallel orbits, zipped past each other in opposite directions, and the LRO operations team "needed exquisite timing in pointing LROC to the right place at the right time to catch a glimpse of Danuri."

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon for 15 years, captured several images -- which resemble a cosmic surfboard zooming through space -- during three orbits while it was close enough to Danuri to grab snapshots.

• International Space Station

Stephen Smith is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.

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