Artemis II entered the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence on the 6th | WPN World People News

NASA’s Artemis II, carrying four astronauts on a lunar flyby mission, entered the Moon’s sphere of influence (SOI) at 04:42 GMT on the 6th (12:42 p.m. Taipei time on the 6th). This indicates that the Moon’s gravitational pull on the Orion spacecraft has become stronger than that of Earth, marking the mission’s final stage before entering lunar orbit.

It is understood that the Moon’s sphere of influence does not have a physical boundary but is instead a mathematical concept, signifying that the astronauts have entered the vicinity of the Moon. At this point, the four astronauts aboard Orion are approximately 63,000 kilometers from the Moon and about 373,368 kilometers from Earth. This marks humanity’s first near-lunar flight since 1972, as well as the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth.

An image of the Moon transmitted by the astronauts aboard Orion on the 5th clearly shows the Orientale Basin. In the coming hours, the astronauts are expected not only to set a new record for the farthest distance from Earth but also to observe lunar surface details never before seen with the naked eye.

Among the four astronauts on Artemis II, three are American and one is Canadian. Victor Glover will become the first person of color in history to fly around the Moon, while Canada’s Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch will be the first non-American and the first woman, respectively, to accomplish this milestone.