Even if you are 250,000 miles from Earth, sleep is important. However, for all the life support in the Orion spacecraft, the capsule had no bedrooms, leaving Artemis II’s four-person crew with a truly unique sleeping arrangement.
“I was sleeping next to an air conditioning vent. So I’d wake up and see this big bell,” Glover told CNET during a video call. “And it was like, ‘Oh, I’m in space. I’m weightless.’
Sleep wasn’t just a way for the astronauts to recharge; it also focused them on their epic journey. Glover explained, “What really struck me is that we’re human too. It’s like camping, and this is a very important part of this journey.”
Watch this: Artemis II by Victor Glover talks to CNET
Artemis II it was the first manned mission to the moon in more than 50 years. It followed Artemis Ithe not-yet-active 2022 mission that was the first of NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The mission of Artemis II was for the crew to test the spacecraft, life support systems, the SLS rocket and the procedures necessary for future lunar missions that would include landings on the moon and eventually. building a base there.
Glover, the Orion pilot, along with commander Reid Wiseman and mission technicians Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, make up the Artemis II crew. This work has made a lot of history. It is the first time that a woman, a black man or a Canadian has made a trip to the moon. The four Artemis II astronauts traveled 252,756 kilometers from Earth, farthest by any human, surpassing the record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission.
This image of NASA’s Orion spacecraft was taken with a camera mounted on its sun-aligned wings.
It wasn’t Glover’s first time in space. In 2020, on a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff, he piloted the Crew Dragon capsule to and from the International Space Station to The mission of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1spending more than 167 days in space. But Artemis II gave Glover the opportunity to be the first to fly the Orion, a new vehicle designed for the Artemis mission. For most of the nearly 10-day mission, Orion operated autonomously. But Glover had several opportunities to take control of the spacecraft in person to test its handling.
“It was fun and exciting,” Glover said of flying Orion. “It was a test pilot’s dream to pilot a new spacecraft by hand for the first time.”
Even after spending time training to fly the simulator back to Earth, he was amazed at the responsiveness of Orion’s hand controls and the clarity of the cameras, which are used to guide the craft in the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that holds the fuel for the upper stage of takeoff. He said the view from cameras and monitors is like “looking through a window.”
Artemis II astronaut and pilot Victor Glover wearing an orange flight suit.
When I asked Glover if he felt like Han Solo driving the Orion, he replied, “Han Solo wants to be me when he grows up!” Throughout my conversation, Glover was kind, loving and funny.
“I’m starting to do cooler things than Han Solo. I mean, just the fact that it is trueit’s better.”
Although landing on the moon was not in the cards for this trip, the Orion crew traveled about 4,000 kilometers beyond the moon, allowing them to see parts of the moon that had never been seen before. In comparison, the Apollo missions flew about 70 miles above the moon to land, limiting how much of it you could see.
Earthset was taken through the window of the Orion spacecraft at 6:41 pm EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew flyby of the moon.
The pictures Glover took with the lunar crew were amazing. A shot like Earthset was a reminder of how beautiful our planet is and our place within the solar system. Astronauts even saw a total solar eclipse as they orbited the far side of the moon. But none of the photos they took compared to what they saw, according to Glover.
“I could see the curvature of the moon. Depth is just one part you can’t see in pictures. But here’s the other thing, pictures are not to scale.”
When Artemis II flew over the interceptor, the crew said the boundary between day and night was “nothing but a straight line,” according to NASA.
During the lunar flight, Orion was moving faster: 60,863 mph relative to Earth, but only 3,139 mph relative to the moon, according to NASA. The speed meant that the shadows on the ground kept changing into different shapes. Glover was particularly drawn to the crescent moon, where the light and dark sides of the moon meet. The conclusion is not fixed and depends on the position of the moon relative to the sun. As Orion moved, it changed into various shapes that looked like letters.
“You know what, people, I fell in love with this terminator when I saw it next to the original. I watched the terminator go from the letter C to D, which means there is a point where the moon gets a little brighter, it’s dark. It’s pointing right at me.”
Artemis II astronauts photographed themselves wearing eclipse glasses using the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Artemis II’s lunar flight was a highlight of many of our journeys on Earth, in part because we could watch it in real time streaming services like Netflix. Almost the entire mission was streamed live on NASA’s website and YouTube channel, making it feel like a real show. One minute you are watching the workers eating, exercising, taking pictures of the moon; next, there’s a random jar of Nutella floating in one of the cameras. I asked Glover if it felt like he was on a TV show while on Orion.
“It didn’t feel like a reality show to me,” Glover said. “To see science and hear us describe the moon, and see us fly a spaceship by hand, and see when it’s time to sleep and when to shower and when to brush your teeth, it’s like that. Work was all those things.”
Glover was very happy to hear how I and others felt connected to the workers during their work. He said it is important for NASA to allow the world access to everything that needs to be sent to four people in a quarter of a million places.
“I think probably one of the most important things about this machine is how much you were able to see,” Glover said with a smile. “I’m glad you felt like you were there.”
Watch this: Self Discovery with Artemis II | Tech Today
