NASA has released an annotated image from Artemis II showing where crew members observed faint flashes on the Moon during the mission’s journey in April 2026.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Victor “Ike” Glover, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, reported seeing five extremely faint, pinprick-like bursts of light while aboard the Orion spacecraft. The flashes were caused by rocky fragments striking the lunar surface, NASA said.
The observations were made while Orion was about 46,000 miles from the Moon. In the April 6 tablet screenshot released by NASA, the crew’s handwritten notes identify the reported flash locations on a visualization of the dark Moon eclipsing the Sun.
Artemis II traveled to the Moon and back from April 1 through April 10, 2026. NASA said the mission’s complete lunar-science dataset is now available to the public and the global science community for further study, alongside crew audio observations and a preliminary lunar science report.
