NASAArtemis 2 astronauts will embark on a historic journey to the moon to study the lunar surface with what chief scientist Kelsey Young calls “the best camera ever or ever to exist” – their own eyes. As of early Sunday, the four-person crew of three Americans, commander Reed Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, had crossed the “two-thirds” mark of the Orion spacecraft’s range. They are expected to arrive on the moon on Monday and orbit the moon, capturing images of the far side during the mission. “The human eye is basically the best camera that has ever existed or is likely to exist in the future,” Kelsey Young, Artemis 2’s chief scientist, told AFP. “The number of receptors in the human eye far exceeds the capabilities of a camera.”Despite advances in imaging technology, Young noted that human vision is good at detecting subtle changes in color, background and light that reveal the texture of the lunar surface. “Humans can understand how lighting changes surface details, such as how angled lighting reveals texture but reduces visible color,” she added.The astronauts undergo more than two years of rigorous training to become “field scientists,” including geological expeditions to Iceland and Canada, simulated lunar flybys, and memorizing the Moon’s “Top 15” landmarks. Astronauts used an inflatable moon sphere to practice observing how sunlight changes the color and texture of the surface, improving their detailed note-taking skills.Noah Petro, director of NASA’s Planetary Geology Laboratory, said that from an astronaut’s perspective, the moon is “about the size of a basketball.” “The question I’m most interested in is whether they can see the color of the moon’s surface,” he said, referring to the subtle browns and tans that indicate composition and history.David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute tempered expectations for a major discovery but emphasized the historic nature of the observations. “Having astronauts describe what they saw … was something that no one on Earth had ever heard of before at least two generations ago,” he said.Artemis II launched on April 1 from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center on top of a NASA Space Launch System rocket. The mission, the first manned trip to the moon in 53 years, advances NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to enable sustainable lunar exploration and eventual human missions to Mars.
