US EditionArtemis II astronauts regain connection with Earth after Moon fly-by
NASA says the blackout is expected to last about 40 minutes as Orion loses line of sight and then resumes contact automatically.
- On Monday, the Artemis II Orion spacecraft passed behind the Moon, triggering a planned 40-minute communications blackout as the lunar body blocked direct radio signals to Earth.
- Orion relies on direct radio communication with NASA's Deep Space Network, which the Moon physically obscures during far-side flybys, creating the signal loss.
- During the blackout, the four-person crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—conducted science observations and captured rare photos, having recently surpassed the 1970 Apollo 13 distance record.
- Contact resumed at 7:25 p.m. ET as the spacecraft reemerged, with astronaut Koch confirming that communications with NASA's Mission Control had successfully resumed.
- The mission validates critical life-support, propulsion, and navigation systems, supporting NASA's broader goal of returning humans to the lunar surface before 2028.
20 Articles
20 Articles
Artemis II breaks radio silence with four historic words as it emerges from Moon
The Artemis II mission, now at its closest point to the Moon, has broken radio silence with NASA Mission Control after a 40-minute blackout — and the crew's first words were historic
Artemis II crew regains communication with NASA after blackout
The Artemis II crew temporarily lost touch with NASA's Deep Space Network as they travelled around the moon. The blackout lasted roughly 40 minutes, marking the first time in more than 50 years that humans were completely unreachable by anyone on Earth.
NASA re-establishes communication with Artemis mission astronauts who traveled behind the Moon, after a planned 40-minute disconnection.
NASA's Artemis II mission is experiencing one of its most delicate and, at the same time, most anticipated moments: the Orion ship has lost contact with the Earth for about 40 minutes as it passes behind the Moon.This blackout of communications, foreseen within the lunar overflight, has also served to reopen the debate on space cooperation between powers. Pedro Duque, ex-astronaut and former Spanish minister, has summed it up in a message publis…
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