A Sunrise for Orion, Artemis II

The Sun returns after nearly one hour of total eclipse. Six meteoroid impacts were witnessed in the dark. April 6, 2026. The Sun breaks at the left edge of the Moon, ending nearly one hour of total solar eclipse as seen from Orion. For that entire time, the Moon was shrouded in complete darkness, no sunlight on the surface at all. The crew used that window to do something rarely possible: watch the dark side of the Moon for impact flashes. They saw six. Six meteoroids, traveling thousands of miles per hour, slamming into the lunar surface and producing brief flashes of light visible to the naked eye. At 9 p.m. ET, the crew called down to report what they'd seen. This kind of observation has been attempted from Earth, but from Orion's distance and angle, with the Moon fully in shadow, the conditions were unlike anything available from the ground. In this frame, Orion is visible in the foreground as the first sliver of sunlight creeps back over the lunar limb. The eclipse is ending. The data is already collected. This image retains its original framing as captured aboard Orion. The visible grain is inherent to deep space photography in extreme low-light conditions. We keep it as is. It's part of what makes this real. Photo: NASA / Artemis II, Lunar Flyby