The crew of Artemis II will be uncontactable for 40 minutes (Image: NASA)
The crew of NASA's historic Artemis II mission are on their way to the Moon. When they arrive at Earth's solitary natural satellite, there will be a period of time when they will be uncontactable. As the spacecraft goes behind the Moon, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will be on their own - unable to speak with their colleagues on the ground.
Radio and laser signals will be blocked from about 23:47 BST (18:47 EDT) today, and the group will be completely alone for around 40 minutes.
"When we're behind the Moon, out of contact with everybody, let's take that as an opportunity," Astronaut Glover told the BBC before he and his colleagues lifted off. "Let's pray, hope, send your good thoughts and feelings that we get back in contact with the crew."
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins was completely alone for 48 minutes as he flew past the far side of the Moon in 1969.
Artemis II astronauts have sent photos from space (Image: Getty)
He wrote in his memior Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys: "I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life.
"If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God knows what on this side."
He also wrote: "The radio silence is a strange feeling. It is not exactly a silence, for the machine is always making small noises—the whirring of a fan, the clicking of a relay—but it is a loss of the comforting presence of Mission Control.
"When I go behind the moon, I am not just physically separated, but the umbilical cord to Earth is severed.
Michael Collins was completely alone during the Apollo 11 mission for 48 minutes (Image: Getty)
"There is a sense of release in it, a moment where the pressure of the mission subsides, and I can simply be a pilot in his craft, drifting through a canyon of stars."
Similar to Glover, Collins he urged unity.
The astronaut wrote: "I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let’s say 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed.
"The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified facade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment.
"The earth must become as it appears: blue and white, not capitalist or communist; blue and white, not rich or poor; blue and white, not envious or envied."
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