Lorraine Williamson
More than half a century after humanity last sent astronauts towards the Moon, Artemis 2 is now heading into the most dramatic stage of its mission. For readers in Spain, one of the most striking early moments has already arrived: among the first images sent back from Orion, the Iberian Peninsula could be seen glowing on the curve of the Earth as the crew made its way deeper into space.
That Spain-linked detail gives the story an emotional hook, but the mission itself is much bigger than a single photograph. NASA says the crew reached the Moon’s sphere of influence on Sunday, 5 April, with the key lunar flyby set for Monday, 6 April, US time. During that phase, the astronauts will begin observing parts of the lunar far side and features such as the Orientale basin, a region no human crew has ever fully seen before.
The most important hours are still to come
This is the first crewed lunar mission since the Apollo era, but Artemis 2 is not a landing mission. Instead, it is a high-stakes test flight designed to send four astronauts around the Moon and safely back to Earth, proving the systems NASA will later need for a return to the lunar surface. Reuters reported after the translunar injection burn that Orion was committed to a record-setting journey that would take the crew farther from Earth than any humans have travelled before.
NASA’s current mission updates say the main flyby observation window will run from 2.45 pm to 9.40 pm EDT on Monday, 6 April, which in mainland Spain means roughly 8.45 pm on Monday to 3.40 am early Tuesday. NASA’s published schedule also points to a predicted 40-minute communications blackout as Orion passes behind the Moon, with closest approach expected at 7.02 pm EDT, or just after 1.00 am in Spain.
Spain and Europe already have a place in the story
The most obvious Spanish link so far is visual. El País highlighted how the first Earth photographs from Orion showed “la península Ibérica centelleando” as the planet curved into darkness, one of those rare space images that feels both historic and oddly intimate. The same report noted that the crew had also captured auroras and the day-night boundary on Earth, adding to the sense that this mission is as much about perspective as engineering.
There is also a wider European angle. ESA says the European Service Module, built by European industry, is the propulsion heart of Orion and is providing the power that guides and steers the crew towards the Moon and back. In other words, Europe is not just watching Artemis 2 from the ground; part of the hardware making the mission possible is European too.
What the astronauts are about to see
NASA says the crew is now beginning to see parts of the Moon’s far side, with the Orientale basin already appearing on the edge of the lunar disk in mission imagery. The agency describes Artemis 2 as the first time humans have seen the entire basin, and says the astronauts will continue studying it from multiple angles during the flyby.
That matters because Artemis 2’s route is not simply repeating Apollo. El País notes that the Orion crew will fly the far side at a much greater height than Apollo 8, around 4,000 kilometres, which should allow a broader pole-to-pole view of terrain that earlier missions could not fully observe. NASA has also said the changing angle of sunlight during the flyby should help reveal ridges, crater rims and other surface detail more clearly.
Why this mission matters beyond the spectacle
It is easy to treat Artemis 2 as a nostalgia story, but NASA’s timetable shows it is really a bridge mission. The flight is testing Orion’s systems in deep space, the crew’s ability to work during a lunar flyby, and the practical choreography needed before astronauts try to return to the Moon later in the decade. Reuters has framed it as the first crewed step in the modern Artemis programme, which aims to put humans back on the lunar surface and eventually build a sustained presence there.
For Spain, this is one of those international stories that still lands personally. There is the image of the peninsula shining on the edge of Earth, the European hardware helping to power the spacecraft, and the simple fact that millions of people across Europe will be watching the next stage of the mission unfold late on Monday night. That is what gives the Artemis 2 Moon flyby a little more warmth than a standard space update.
Monday night’s watch moment
The headline moment is still ahead. If the schedule holds, Orion will sweep around the Moon on Monday, 6 April, disappear briefly into blackout behind the far side, and then re-emerge having taken humans farther from Earth than ever before. For a mission built as a rehearsal, that is already starting to feel like history in its own right.