Artemis II Restores Contact After Lunar Blackout

NASA's Artemis II mission successfully restored communications with the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft after a planned 40-minute radio blackout as it passed behind the Moon's far side. The crew, consisting of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, all from NASA, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, emerged from the signal loss around 7:25 p.m. ET on Monday, marking the end of a critical phase in their lunar flyby.

The blackout, which began at approximately 6:44 p.m. ET, occurred because the Moon physically blocked radio signals between the spacecraft and Earth's Deep Space Network antennas. This shadow zone is a standard element of lunar missions, requiring the crew to operate independently without real-time input from Mission Control in Houston. During the isolation, the astronauts conducted scheduled observations of the Moon's far side, a region never before viewed by humans in person. They documented rugged terrain, including heavily cratered surfaces, geometric patterns, and unexpected shades of brown and green that could reveal new insights into the lunar crust's composition and age.