THE BLUE AND WHITE

On April 1st, 2026, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on the Artemis II mission to the moon. After spending the first day in high Earth orbit to test life support systems, communication links, laser transceivers to send data to Earth, and to practice manually flying the Orion, they performed a translunar injection burn to head for the moon. This burn placed them on a free return trajectory, using the gravity of the Moon to slingshot them around its far side. This cool maneuver required a very precise angle and velocity, but it enabled them to conserve energy and fuel, while also ensuring the safety of the astronauts. 

They also had profound human experiences, bonding through the otherworldly feelings of wonder. They named their Orion spacecraft “Integrity”, to embody the “trust, respect, candor and humility” shared between the crew and the team of engineers. After all, spending 10 days with 3 other astronauts in a space roughly the size of a large SUV in space, taking pictures of the moon will turn any colleagues into family. They built lasting friendships outside of running experiments by working out at the gym with a custom flywheel rowing machine, and enjoying food such as nutella and maple syrup cookies. As Christina Koch remarked upon landing back on Earth, “A crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked.”

Together, they pushed the boundaries of modern spaceflight and set new records. Previously, the farthest mankind had been from Earth was roughly 400 000 km, set in 1970 by Apollo 13’s trip around the far side of the Moon. When passing it, Canada’s Jeremy Hansen gave an empowering speech for the youth: “From the cabin of Integrity here as we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever travelled from planet Earth, we do so in honouring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration. We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we, most importantly, choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long lived.” 

Overall, the Artemis II mission was the culmination of a decades-long effort. It culminated in many technological advancements, but more importantly led to incredible human experiences to be optimistic about our world. The following pictures were captured on Artemis II, and they show breathtaking views of space.