As the four Artemis II astronauts closed in on the moon, they took time to send Easter greetings to Earth and had their own version of an egg hunt.Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch on Sunday presented “astronaut wings” to Canadian crewmate Jeremy Hansen, making his first space flight, before getting down to work carrying out planned tests of new Artemis pressure suits. But first, Koch passed along Easter greetings to flight controllers.”This time of year is something that many religions and many cultures hold dear,” Koch said. “It’s a time of emotions such as joy, as well as solemnness, honoring what’s going on both in our world and in our religious beliefs.”The Artemis II astronauts sent down Easter greetings Sunday as their Orion spacecraft carried them toward a pass over the moon’s normally unseen far side Monday. Left to right: Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch. Commander Reid Wiseman is out of view to the right. / Credit: NASA”Another aspect of that is our family tradition … If I was on the Earth right now, I would be with my family in Houston and we would be hiding confetti eggs in the backyard and watching two very sweet little girls go try to find them.”AdvertisementAdvertisementKoch said the crew had hidden eggs around the cabin to mark the holiday. “They were the dehydrated scrambled egg variety,” she added, “but we’re all pretty happy with them.”Overnight Saturday, Koch said the crew had switched from measuring their increasing distance from Earth to tracking their decreasing distance to the moon. At the time she spoke, the Orion spacecraft was 76,362 nautical miles from the moon and 168,000 miles from Earth.The trip around the moon so far has yielded unexpected detail on its surface, giving scientists a taste of things to come when they pass over the lunar far side Monday.The two major goals of the Artemis II flight are to thoroughly test the Orion moonship and to work through the procedures and techniques needed to safely guide future crews to the moon. The Artemis II crew also plans a full agenda of science observations when they pass behind the moon’s far side Monday afternoon and evening.A view of the moon from the Artemis II Orion capsule as it closed in fo …
