Artemis II astronauts' handwritten notes reveal meteorite impacts

NASA this week highlighted a piece of the Artemis II mission that didn't require cutting-edge hardware: a tablet PC used by three astronauts to sketch what they saw.

The crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — completed a 10-day, 700,000-mile round trip that included a pass over the moon's dark side at about 46,000 miles away. During roughly one hour of observation on April 6, 2026, as the moon eclipsed the sun, the astronauts watched for meteorite activity on the lunar surface.

Popular Science reports that the handwritten notes, color-coded by astronaut, show Wiseman in blue, Hansen in red, and Glover in green. The group spotted at least five faint flashes from impacts. Wiseman noted the first three came within about 10 minutes of starting; two more appeared later. Impacts two and four were likely confirmed by both Hansen and Glover.

Unlike Earth, the moon lacks an atmosphere, so space rocks routinely strike its surface. Most are small, but they pose a real risk for future crewed missions, especially if NASA builds a permanent lunar base. The data collected on this flyby will help engineers plan safer landing sites and habitats.

Artemis II splashed down safely off the coast of San Diego on April 11 at 8:07 p.m. EDT. If all goes as planned, Artemis III is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2027.

• Artemis II
• Christina Koch
• jeremy hansen
• NASA
• reid wiseman
• victor glover