The Orion spacecraft (foreground) approaches the moon for historic close-up observations. Mission geologists are already excited about the data being returned.  (Image credit: NASA)

The four Artemis II astronauts will return to Earth on Friday (April 10) — delivering not only themselves but also a precious trove of images from their lunar journey. And the geologists supporting the mission can hardly wait to dive in.

"The images are spectacular, absolutely," Gordon Osinski, a crater specialist and planetary geologist at Canada's Western University who has been deeply involved in the Artemis II crew’s geology training, told Live Science after seeing the first photos of the crew’s seven-hour lunar flyby.

Osinski said that the small batch of images transmitted to Earth so far hint at big discoveries about the moon's geology — and could help shape the hunt for lunar samples in NASA's upcoming crewed moon landings, starting with Artemis IV as soon as 2028.

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A green, brown and flashy moon

Two geological findings stand out so far. One of these is impact flashes — brief but bright flashes of light from when space rocks slam into the moon, leaving craters behind.

Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hanson reported seeing at least five of these flashes during their lunar flyby. Geologists hope to review the crew's images, once they return to Earth, to potentially identify the craters associated with the impacts.

"The conditions that [the crew] had to view those was perfect," Osinski said, referring to the crew's passage over the lunar terminator — the stark dividing line between the moon's bright day-side and dark night-side, where contrast is heightened and flashes are easier to spot.

Secondly, mission scientists are eager to investigate the crew’s descriptions of lunar colors. Geologists have only heard a few quick impressions from the crew so far, mainly over voice communications open to the public. But the Artemis II crew was recording more lunar flyby observations by voice and in notes in an archive that will take weeks to review.

The astronauts reported some intriguing things, such as patches of green and brown on the lunar surface.

"We do know there is color on the lunar surface," Osinski said. The human eye, he added, is more sensitive to color than the cameras on board Artemis II, so "that's definitely going to be something interesting to follow up."

The human touch in space

For years, Osinski has been giving geologic training to Artemis II crew members. Hansen is a repeat contributor to Osinski's remote Canadian crater expeditions, often done alongside Indigenous groups. During Artemis II preparation, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency backup astronaut Jenni Gibbons joined Hansen and Osinski on a 2023 expedition to a moon-like crater in northern Labrador, Canada.

Artemis II moon flyby begins: How to watch and what to know

Artemis II: NASA is preparing for a return to the moon, but why is it going back?

'This generation's moment': How the Artemis missions will reframe humanity's relationship with the moon

Because the Artemis II astronauts could not sample the lunar surface directly, they were trained on how to make descriptions. They also used "situational awareness" for some situations, such as distinguishing between volcanic and impact processes, although the bulk of the interpretation will require months of work on Earth by geologists after the mission is complete.

But there is more that the Artemis II astronauts can provide. The astronauts form part of a group of less than 30 people who have seen the moon close up in-person, enabling them to bring human eyes and experiences to observations.

What's more, Artemis II is the first lunar astronaut mission in nearly two generations, enabling the astronauts (and their supporting scientists) to bring decades of insights into crater impacts, water ice and other features of the moon that Apollo officials did not have access to. The images Artemis II sent to Earth so far are just a subset of what's on board. Osinski said that in particular, he is interested in seeing the high-resolution 400-milimeter (16 inches) lens images by the crew to compare with images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Bringing the moon back home

After Artemis II returns, Osinski and other geologists will take what was learned from the astronaut observations to work on future lunar surface missions. Planning has been ongoing for the surface work for two years, with the team now working on items such as narrowing down which sites might be useful to land at, and announcing which participating scientists will join.

Jacob Bleacher, NASA's chief exploration scientist, told Live Science the geology teams are working on landing products for the first astronauts on the surface, and are expecting to get more data from commercial landing missions supporting NASA. Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission was the first to make it there, achieving 60 days of operations in 2025. "We procured a good bit of data from them," Bleacher said, and the hope is that more companies will touch down before Artemis IV brings astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028.

For now, geologists are already hard at work making a plan for the moon-sample return.

Osinski is co-investigator of the geology team that will support the Artemis IV astronauts. Osinski said his team will likely be working with a lower-resolution live video feed that will enable, at least to an extent, the geologists on Earth to help the astronauts on site with observations.

That said, Artemis surface astronauts may also have to make quick decisions about sampling, which will be another training regime, Osinski said, requiring them to work independently.

"They might have to be making a split-second decision on the surface, if they're running out of time at a station: you know, 'Do I choose this one or this one?' And there might not be time for the back and forth with the science team on Mission Control," Osinski said.

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Artemis II: Wait a minute, the Moon isn’t just grey?

{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

Part of what made Mohenjo-Daro so fascinating was its age: the city, eventually revealed to have been among the most expansive settlements ever seen during the time of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, was also one of the oldest major cities in the region, with an estimated age of around 4,500 years.

However, recent geoarchaeological studies reported by the Sindh Directorate General of Antiquities & Archaeology (DGAA) now suggest that those original estimates may have been off by several centuries, meaning that the enigmatic Mohenjo-Daro is likely far older than previously believed.

An Archaeological Enigma

Mohenjo-Daro has captivated archaeologists since its discovery due in part to the remarkable level of sophistication exhibited by its ancient builders.

From its structural elements, which, in many ways, resemble urban planning for modern cities, to its remarkably advanced water infrastructure, which includes sewers, baths, and wells, many elements of Mohenjo-Daro set it apart from other cities of its era.

The “Great Bath” at Mohenjo-Daro, as it appeared in 2014

(Image Credit: Saqib Qayyum/CC 3.0/Wikimedia).

Going beyond just appearances, the remarkable architecture present at the ancient site, whose name translates to mean “Mound of the Dead Men,” points to an equally sophisticated social structure, which is suggestive of both cultured urban life and a central government that would be required for the management and oversight of its once-40,000-strong population.

And yet, as mysterious as the question of its origins is that of Mohenjo-Daro’s demise; the site appears to have been abandoned by around 1,700 BCE, along with most other major urban hubs that once represented the flourishing Indus Valley Civilization.

Older Than Once Thought?

Now, in new geoarchaeological work undertaken by the Sindh Directorate General of Antiquities and Archaeology (DGAA), it appears that Mohenjo-Daro could be even older than previous estimates, which placed its rise to around 2,500 BCE.

According to new timelines for the construction of an ancient mudbrick wall encircling the site’s western Stupa Mound, one of the site’s most prominent features, recent radiocarbon dating suggests that this portion of the city dates to sometime between 2,600 and as early as 2,700 BCE, which points to activity at the site at least a century earlier than once thought.

According to a statement released by the DGAA regarding their geoarchaeological re-dating of the site, these mudbrick walls “were expanded and maintained until around 2200 BCE and possibly even longer.”

“Future investigations will trace the plan of the city wall around the Stupa Mound to try and locate gateways and to determine how this wall functioned and when it began to erode,” the DGAA said.

Lingering Questions

While the new radiocarbon dates push back the timelines for Mohenjo-Daro’s earliest construction phases, several questions about the ancient site remain.

Among the site’s many mysteries, the presence of localized areas in which bricks appear to have been fused, as well as human remains suggestive of a “massacre” that may have occurred at some point, has helped give rise to beliefs involving an ancient invasion or other cataclysmic event that occurred at Mohenjo-Daro that might have contributed to its demise.

However, scholars have disputed such claims for more than half a century. As the renowned archaeologist and Indus Valley scholar George F. Dales wrote in 1964, “The details of the story of the decline and fall of the Indus civilization are, as yet, far from clear, but a pattern of contributing factors is taking shape. This pattern does not include invasion and massacre as basic factors. On the contrary, it appears that a series of natural disasters occurred–possibly as swiftly, certainly more devastating than any hypothetical invasion.”

In fact, to this day, the enigmatic Mohenjo-Daro remains threatened by the forces of nature. As the BBC reported in 2012, salty groundwater is now gradually eroding the mudbricks of the site’s ancient walls, which for thousands of years remained protected before their excavation began in the early 20th century.

“It is definitely a complicated site to protect, given the problems of salinity, humidity and rainfall,” remarked the Pakistani archaeologist Dr. Asma Ibrahim at the time, adding that “most of the attempts at conservation by the authorities have been so bad and so amateur they have only accelerated the damage.”

Given such circumstances, if efforts to preserve this ancient enigma aren’t improved, the famous city of Mohenjo-Daro—unearthed after many thousands of years—could potentially become a “lost” archaeological wonder all over again.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

Artemis II duikt straks langs de verre maanzijde

 Yorick La Rivière - Redacteur astronomie/ruimtevaart & Moderator Disqus

Artemis II nadert zijn cruciale scheervlucht langs de Maan. De bemenste Orion-capsule verbreekt hierbij records, verliest tijdelijk contact met Aarde en maakt een zonsverduistering mee vanaf de verre maanzijde.

Het is inmiddels enkele dagen geleden dat de SLS-raket met donderend geweld opsteeg vanaf lanceercomplex 39B in Florida. De bemenste Artemis II-missie van NASA bevindt zich momenteel in de slotfase van haar reis naar de Maan, met de aanstaande scheervlucht die nog geen etmaal van ons verwijderd is. Terwijl de vierkoppige crew aan boord van de Orion-capsule ‘Integrity’ zich opmaakt voor dit hoogtepunt van deze missie, blikken we terug op de afgelopen dagen én vooruit op wat komen gaat…

(Boven:) Een hoog-resolutie selfie van de Orion-capsule, gemaakt met een camera op één van de zonnepanelen tijdens een routine-inspectie op dag 2 van de Artemis II-missie. (Onder:) De Aarde gefotografeerd door commandant Reid Wiseman vanuit het raam van Orion, kort na de translunar injection-stuwing, in de vroege nacht van 3 april 2026. Foto: NASA/Reid Wiseman

Een reis vol technische hoogstandjes

Na de geslaagde lancering in de nacht van 1 op 2 april voerde de bemanning een reeks cruciale manoeuvres uit. Zo werd de ‘translunar injection’-stuwing van bijna zes minuten succesvol afgerond, waarmee Orion een ellipsvormige baan om Aarde op weg naar de Maan werd gezet.

(Boven:) Een zich verwijderende Aarde en de onderste zijde (de European Service Module) met hoofdmotor in beeld, bezien door een camera gehecht aan de zonnepanelen. (Onder:) Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen en Reid Wiseman samen aan het werk in de Orion capsule, hier halverwege en tijdens dag drie van de missie op weg naar de Maan. Foto’s: NASA

Eerder demonstreerden de astronauten al de indrukwekkende wendbaarheid van hun capsule tijdens een ‘proximity operations’-test, waarbij ze op slechts enkele tientallen meters van de bovenste rakettrap manoeuvreerden om een koppeling te simuleren en de wendbaarheid van Orion te testen. Een tijdelijk probleem met een knipperend lampje van het toilet bleek gelukkig snel verholpen, en meerdere geplande ‘outbound trajectory correction’-stuwingen, simpel: kleine en geplande koerscorrecties, werden afgelast omdat Orion al op een haast perfecte koers lag – een teken van uitzonderlijke precisie.

NASA-astronaut Christina Koch (links) neemt de controle over van de Orion-capsule tijdens een handmatige stuurtest op dag 4 van de Artemis II-missie. Naast haar zijn CSA-astronaut Jeremy Hansen (midden) en NASA-astronaut Victor Glover (rechts) te zien. Foto: NASA

Voorbereiding op de scheervlucht

De laatste dagen stonden in het teken van de voorbereiding op de scheervlucht van komende nacht: 6 op 7 april. Gisteren testte de bemanning uitgebreid hun oranje ‘Orion Crew Survival System’-ruimtepakken, waarbij ze onder meer de pakken onder druk zetten, lektests uitvoerden en de bewegingsvrijheid beoordeelden.

Victor Glover (meest links), Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch en Reid Wiseman (meest rechts) tijdens de ceremonie waarin Hansen zijn gouden vleugels ‘Gold Wings’ ontvangt voor zijn eerste ruimtevlucht, tijdens de vijfde vluchtdag. Foto: NASA

Ook ontvingen ze hun definitieve lijst met 30 observatie doelwitten van het maanoppervlak, waaronder het 950 kilometer brede ‘Oriëntale-bekken’. Deze inslagkrater, die grotendeels op de verre zijde van de Maan ligt, zal door de bemanning uitgebreid worden gefotografeerd en geanalyseerd:

Een screenshot van de software die de Artemis II-bemanning op hun boordcomputers ziet. De software begeleidt hen bij het uitvoeren van het wetenschappelijke observatieplan rond de Maan. Op deze afbeelding is het Oriëntale-bekken te zien, doelwit nummer 12, rechts omcirkeld. Afbeelding: NASA

Dichtbij en ver weg: de tijdlijn

Vanaf vanavond begint het spektakel echt. Sinds vannochtend 6:41 uur (6 april, Nederlandse tijd) bevindt Orion zich in de zwaartekrachtinvloedssfeer van de Maan en zal er tot morgenavond 19:25 uur in een hyperbola vluchtbaan vertoeven, vanaf en tot aan een overgangsafstand maan-tot-capsule van 66.100 kilometer. Het absolute hoogtepunt volgt vannacht. Om 01:02 uur (7 april, Nederlandse tijd) zal Orion het dichtst bij de Maan zijn, op een afstand van slechts 6.550 kilometer boven het oppervlak. Kort daarna, om 01:07 uur, bereikt de capsule haar maximale afstand tot de Aarde: maar liefst 406.700 kilometer. Daarmee verbreken de astronauten het record van Apollo 13 uit 1970 voor de verste afstand die de mens ooit van de Aarde heeft gereisd.

• Deze animatie toont het vluchttraject van Artemis II. De Orion-capsule maakt een achtbaan rond de Aarde en de Maan, alvorens terug te keren naar de Aarde:

Radiostilte en een eclips

Een bijzonder spannend moment volgt al iets eerder, rond 00:44 uur (7 april), wanneer Orion achter de Maan verdwijnt. Gedurende ongeveer 40 minuten is er dan radiostilte; onze natuurlijke satelliet blokkeert alle signalen. Precies op dat moment zullen de astronauten getuige zijn van een ‘Earthset’ – een Aarde ondergang – en even later, om 01:25 uur, weer een ‘Earthrise’ zien wanneer de Aarde achter de Maan terug opkomt. Direct daarna wordt het radiocontact hersteld. De klap op de vuurpijl is een zonsverduistering, zichtbaar vanuit de capsule tussen 02:35 en 03:32 uur. De zon schuift dan ruim een uur lang achter de Maan, wat de bemanning een unieke kans geeft om de corona van onze Zon te bestuderen.

• Een visualisatie van wat de Artemis II-bemanning uit het raam zal zien tijdens de scheervlucht. Te zien zijn onder meer de ‘Earthrise’ en ‘Earthset’, een scherpe blik op de verre zijde van de Maan en een zonsverduistering aan het einde van deze scheervlucht:

Terugkeer naar de Aarde

Na het verlaten van de invloedssfeer van de Maan op dinsdagavond 19:25 uur en terug in die van Aarde, zal Orion op eigen kracht verder reizen. De capsule zal dan langzaam maar zeker door de zwaartekracht van de Aarde worden teruggetrokken en langzaam aan versneld terugvallen. De bemanning richt zich dan op de laatste loodjes: een vurige terugkeer in de atmosfeer van de Aarde, gevolgd door een splashdown in de Stille Oceaan. Tot die tijd genieten Wiseman, Glover, Koch en Hansen van een uitzicht dat maar weinigen hen voor hebben gegaan: een volledige Maan, gezien vanaf de verre kant.

De Aarde omringd door de duisternis van de ruimte, wordt steeds kleiner naarmate de bemanning dichter bij de Maan komt. Deze foto is genomen door Koch, één van de Artemis II-astronauten op de vijfde dag van de missie. Foto: NASA

Artemis II nadert hiermee dus haar meest kritieke en interessante fase van deze test- en observatievlucht in de komende uren. Van een afstandsrecord in de diepere ruimte tot een angstvallige radiostilte en een eclips: de komende uren bepalen niet alleen de wetenschappelijke oogst, maar ook het succes van de eerste bemenste maanmissie in meer dan vijftig jaar. Terwijl de capsule onverbiddelijk dichterbij komt, kijken miljoenen mee – klaar om het volgende hoofdstuk in de ruimtevaartgeschiedenis te ontvouwen.

De Maan, vlak voor het slapengaan op dag 5, gezien vanuit het andere raam van Orion, kort nadat de capsule in de invloedssfeer van de Maan was gekomen. Missiespecialist Christina Koch: ‘We vallen nu naar de Maan in plaats van dat we van de Aarde wegsnellen. Wat een geweldige mijlpaal!’ Foto: NASA.Koch

Wil je het aanstaande missiedeel van Artemis II’ maanvlucht meekijken komende uren, volg dan onderstaande livestream van NASA:

Wil je meer achtergronden over dit nieuws volgen? Bekijk dan ook onze recente artikelen:

• Artemis II duikt straks langs de verre maanzijde
• Lancering geslaagd: Artemis II begint reis om de Maan
• Eindelijk: Artemis II lanceert vannacht (hopelijk)!
• Artemis II-raket staat op lanceerplatform: lancering in april?
• Omwenteling bij NASA: maanlanding op de schop
• Artemis II raket terug naar VAB om reparatie
• Nieuwe vlucht in maanrace: China test capsule en raket
• Lancering ISS Crew-12 aanstaande, valt samen met aanscherpende ruimtewedloop
• Race naar de maan vertraagd, tentoonstelling gestart
• Race tegen de klok: dit moet er gebeuren voor Artemis III
• Het lichaam als lab in de diepe ruimte met Artemis II
• De Maan lonkt: bemenste Artemis II-raket is lanceerklaar

…of volg onze themapagina’s Artemis, Astronauten, De Nieuwe Ruimtewedloop, of Ruimtevaart om helemaal bij te zijn in deze interessante tijden!

Uitgelezen? Luister ook eens naar de Scientias Podcast: 

Bronmateriaal

• "Artemis" - NASA/Blogs
  
• Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: NASA

{ https://scientias.nl/nieuws/astronomie-ruimtevaart/ }

Explorers stumble across a secret ISLAND in Antarctica's 'danger zone' – after initially mistaking it for a dirty iceberg

• READ MORE: Antarctica has lost 8 TIMES the size of Greater London in ice 

By SHIVALI BEST, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR 

Scientists exploring the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic were in for a surprise after stumbling across a secret island in an area marked a 'danger zone'. 

A 93–strong team on board the Alfred Wegener Institute's (AWI) icebreaker, Polarstern, made the discovery after rough weather conditions forced them to seek shelter next to Joinville Island. 

There, they spotted a strange brown landmass, which turned out to be a previously undiscovered island. 

'On our route, the nautical chart showed an area with unexplored dangers to navigation, but it wasn't clear what it was or where the information came from,' explained Simon Dreutter, a specialist in underwater mapping at AWI. 

'I scoured all the coastlines we had here in the bathymetry lab and went back to the bridge. 

'Looking out of the window, we saw an "iceberg" that looked kind of dirty. 

'On closer inspection, we realised that it was probably rock. 

'We then changed course and headed in that direction and it became increasingly clear that we had an island in front of us!' 

Scientists exploring the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic were in for a surprise after stumbling across a secret island in an area marked a 'danger zone'

After spotting the landmass, the team carefully steered Polarstern towards it, eventually coming within 150 metres

After spotting the landmass, the team carefully steered Polarstern towards it, eventually coming within 150 metres. 

Using a drone, they were able to explore the island from above, confirming its surprisingly large size. 

The island measures 130 metres long, 50 metres wide, and protrudes about 16 metres out of the water. 

This makes it around the same length as the Great Pyramid of Giza. 

The experts are unclear why the island is marked as a danger zone on the nautical chart, but not as a coastline in other data sets. 

'On the satellite images analysed, the island could hardly be distinguished from the numerous icebergs drifting around in the immediate vicinity due to its ice cover,' they added. 

However, before the island can be added to maps, it must be named. 

While the team are undecided on what to name the island, many eager fans have already thrown a number of suggestions in the ring on X (formerly Twitter). 

Using a drone, they were able to explore the island from above, confirming its size. The island measures 130 metres long, 50 metres wide, and protrudes about 16 metres out of the water. This makes it around the same length as the Great Pyramid of Giza

The experts are unclear why the island is marked as a danger zone on the nautical chart, but not as a coastline in other data sets

A 93–strong team on board the Alfred Wegener Institute's (AWI) icebreaker, Polarstern, made the discovery after rough weather conditions forced them to seek shelter next to Joinville Island

One user on X suggested: 'They should call it Eisberg.'

'It should be called Lummerland,' another added, in reference to the fictional, two–mountain island from Michael Ende's children's book Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver. 

And one joked: 'Bird Rendezvous Island'.

The news comes shortly after a secret islet appeared off the coast of Venice.

Previously, the islet, called Bacan, would only form in the summer months before being swept away by winter's storm surges.

But thanks to a new flood barrier this cherished refuge for tourist–shy residents has become a permanent fixture of the lagoon with its own flourishing ecosystem.

Read More

• A new ISLAND is born: Secret islet appears off the coast of Venice 

Measuring 250 metres long and 10 metres wide, the sandbank is covered with a layer of thick vegetation.

Bacan is now home to a range of marsh plants like samphire, rushes, native flowers, and small, salt–resistant cedars called tamarisk.

With new roots holding the soil in place, the island has not vanished since 2020 when the flood barrier's operators were away on holiday during a winter surge.

However, even as residents celebrate the birth of a new beach, some experts warn that this could be a troubling sign for Venice's fragile ecosystem.

SEA LEVELS COULD RISE BY UP TO 4 FEET BY THE YEAR 2300

Global sea levels could rise as much as 1.2 metres (4 feet) by 2300 even if we meet the 2015 Paris climate goals, scientists have warned.

The long-term change will be driven by a thaw of ice from Greenland to Antarctica that is set to re-draw global coastlines.

Sea level rise threatens cities from Shanghai to London, to low-lying swathes of Florida or Bangladesh, and to entire nations such as the Maldives.

It is vital that we curb emissions as soon as possible to avoid an even greater rise, a German-led team of researchers said in a new report.

By 2300, the report projected that sea levels would gain by 0.7-1.2 metres, even if almost 200 nations fully meet goals under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Targets set by the accords include cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in the second half of this century.

Ocean levels will rise inexorably because heat-trapping industrial gases already emitted will linger in the atmosphere, melting more ice, it said.

In addition, water naturally expands as it warms above four degrees Celsius (39.2°F).

Every five years of delay beyond 2020 in peaking global emissions would mean an extra 8 inches (20 centimetres) of sea level rise by 2300.

'Sea level is often communicated as a really slow process that you can't do much about ... but the next 30 years really matter,' said lead author Dr Matthias Mengel, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, in Potsdam, Germany.

None of the nearly 200 governments to sign the Paris Accords are on track to meet its pledges.

Uncharted Island Discovered in Antarctica's Hidden 'Danger Zone'!

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

Does the Ark of the Covenant really exist?

©Getty Images

Does the Ark of the Covenant really exist?
The Ark of the Covenant remains one of history's enduring mysteries. It's certainly one of archaeology's most perplexing puzzles. Did this gold-plated wooden box said to house the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written ever exist? If so, what happened to it? And where might this legendary artifact be hidden?

See and read the following gallery and learn more about the lost Ark by following this historic timeline.

©Getty Images

What is the Ark of the Covenant?
The Ark of the Covenant is a gold-covered wooden chest with lid cover. It's described in the Book of Exodus as containing the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. It was made by Bezalel, chief artisan of the Tabernacle, assisted by deputy architect Oholiab.

©Getty Images

Moses and the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, and fundamental to Judaism and Christianity. Also known as the Tablets of Stone, they were stored in the Ark of the Covenant, which Moses took with him when he ascended biblical Mount Sinai, as written in the Book of Exodus.

©Getty Images

Mount Sinai
In the Bible, Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God. Mount Sinai is one of the most sacred locations in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religions.

©Getty Images

The Tabernacle
What is the aforementioned Tabernacle? When carried, the Ark was always hidden under a large veil made of skins and blue cloth, always carefully concealed, even from the eyes of priests. When at rest, a tabernacle, a kind of tent, was erected and the holy Ark placed under it. The Tabernacle also served as a portable earthly dwelling place used by the Israelites. Pictured is Moses standing over the Ark under the Tabernacle.

©Public Domain

Who were the Israelites?
Any descendant of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob was known as an Israelite. The Israelites were simply members of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Ark was made one year after the Israelites' exodus from Egypt to seek the Promised Land (pictured). From here on in, the Ark is intrinsically related to the biblical Book of Exodus and the biblical Book of Joshua.

©Getty Images

Crossing the Jordan River
Pictured: the Israelites, led by Joshua, crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The Bible says that the river stopped flowing the minute the Ark-Bearers (pictured) set foot in it. In fact, the Ark has been linked to several of the Old Testament's miracles.

©Public Domain 

©Getty Images

The Ark at Ai
After the Battle of Jericho, the Israelites conquered Ai, a Canaanite city. It's here that the Ark is mentioned again after Joshua laments losing the first battle for Ai–the Israelites only took the city at the second attempt. The ruins of Et-Tell in the West Bank have been identified with the city of Ai.

©Public Domain

Bethal
The Ark then turns up in Bethal, the place where Jacob falls asleep and dreams of a ladder stretching between Heaven and Earth and thronged with angels. In Bethal, the Ark is being cared for by the priest Phineas. Pictured are the ruins of Bethal in the 19th century. The Palestinian village of Beitan has been identified as the biblical Bethal.

©Getty Images

Shiloh
The Ark was later kept at Shiloh, another religious center, this time under the charge of Hophni and Phinehas, two sons of Eli. Pictured are the ruins of biblical Shiloh, circa 1910, located in the West Bank, to the west of the modern Israeli settlement town of Shilo.

©Public Domain

Eben-Ezer
According to the biblical narrative, the Ark was taken onto the battlefield at Eben-Ezer where the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. The Ark's guardians, Hophni and Phinehas, perished and the precious chest ended up in the possession of the victors. Pictured is a fresco of the Philistine captivity of the Ark, in the Dura-Europos synagogue in Syria. Sadly, the site appears to have been destroyed by Daesh during the present-day Syrian civil war.

©Getty Images

The Ark's terrible power
The loss of the Ark is described by the daughter-in-law of Eli as a "glory [that] has departed Israel." The Philistines, meanwhile, parade the Ark throughout their land. But at each place, misfortune visits them. At Ashdod, for example, it was placed in the temple of the deity Dagon. The next day, a statue of Dagon was found toppled and broken (pictured).

©Getty Images

Plague of Ashdod
But the worst was yet to come. The people of Ashdod were struck down by God and afflicted by plague (pictured) for the sacrilege of allowing the Ark to be placed in the temple. Elsewhere, a scourge of boils was visited upon the people of Gath and of Ekron. The Ark is quickly removed from the temple.

©Getty Images

The Ark is returned
Daunted by the prospect of further calamity and ill luck, the Philistines, on advice of their diviners, decide to return the Ark to the Israelites. Pictured is the Ark's arrival at Beth Shemesh.

©Getty Images

Beth Shemesh
The Ark is set up in one of the fields where, out of curiosity, the town's men open up the golden chest and gaze inside. This unholy act results in God's wrath, with Him punishing most of the hapless onlookers with death. Pictured are the foundations of Beth Shemesh in 1898.

©Public Domain

Kiriath-Jearim
The Bethshemites rid themselves of the Ark by dispatching it to Kiriath-Jearim (pictured in 1948), where a man called Abinadab looks after it for the next 20 years.

©Getty Images

King David
The coveted chest is eventually taken from Kiriath-Jearim by King David and, amid great rejoicing, the Ark is brought to Jerusalem.

©Public Domain

King Solomon
Much later, after David's departure from Jerusalem, King Solomon worshipped before the Ark after his dream in which God promises him wisdom. Thereafter, the king ordered a temple to be built, a building suitable in size and grandeur to accommodate the mysterious and powerful chest. A special inner room, named Kodesh Hakodashim ("Holy of Holies"), was prepared to receive and house the now legendary artifact (pictured).

©Getty Images

Siege of Jerusalem
In 597 and 587 BCE, the Babylonian Empire conquered the Israelites. Jerusalem was sacked and the Ark, supposedly stored in the temple, vanished. Pictured is an artist's impression of Solomon's Temple before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE.

©Getty Images

What happened to the Ark?
Was the Ark destroyed, captured, or hidden? Nobody knows. But since that fateful day in Jerusalem in 587 BCE, nothing has been seen of the gold-covered wooden chest. So where could it have ended up?

©Getty Images

Josiah
A late 2nd-century rabbinic work known as the Tosefta suggests that Josiah, the king of Judah, stored away the Ark which contained the tablets, a jar of manna (an edible substance that God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert), a jar containing holy anointing oil, and Aaron's rod. But this claim has never been substantiated. Pictured is a print depicting Josiah with the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

©Shutterstock

The Chapel of the Tablet
One famous claim suggests that the Ark was removed from Jerusalem and taken to Ethiopia by Menelik I after he visited his father King Solomon. The chest was supposedly placed in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, in the town of Axum. It was later moved to an adjoining chapel (pictured). Only a guardian monk may view the chest, and is confined to the Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant for the rest of his life, praying before it and offering incense. No one else can enter the building, and no one else has seen it. Whether or not the Ark truly resides beneath the chapel, the site still draws thousands of pilgrims each year.

©Shutterstock

Dome of the Rock
Another theory as to the Ark's whereabouts is that it was hidden below the First Temple in Jerusalem before the Babylonians destroyed it in 587 BCE. But this is a claim that simply can't be substantiated: the site is home to the Dome of the Rock, sacred in Islam. Excavating beneath it is totally out of the question.

©Shutterstock

Hidden in a cave?
Elsewhere, the Lemba people, a Bantu ethnic group native to Zimbabwe and South Africa, insist that their ancestors carried the Ark south, calling it the ngoma lungundu or "voice of God," and eventually hiding it in a deep cave in the Dumghe mountains, their spiritual home.

©Public Domain

Is the Ark in France?
French journalist Louis Charpentier, author of 'The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral,' has made an assertion that the Ark was taken to Chartres Cathedral by the Knights Templar. Pictured is a gilded bas-relief of monks carrying the allusive chest at Auch Cathedral in France.

©Shutterstock

Did the Ark end up in Rome?
Still in Europe, the Ark of the Covenant was said to have been kept in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, surviving the pillages of Rome by the Visigoths and Vandals in the 5th century BCE, but lost forever when the original basilica was ravaged by fire, first in 1307 and again in 1361. Pictured is the building today.

©Shutterstock

The Irish link
On one occasion, Ireland was considered as the Ark's final destination. The Hill of Tara (pictured), an ancient ceremonial and burial site near Skryne in County Meath, was illegally excavated by British Israelites in the early 20th century in the belief that the hill contained the missing chest.

©Public Domain

The Anubis Shrine
Howard Carter's heart must have missed a beat when he entered the Anubis Shrine, part of Tutankhamun's tomb, on November 4, 1922. Already in awe of the treasures he and his team had stumbled upon, there in front of him was something that resembled the Ark of the Covenant. In fact, it was the wood, plaster, lacquer, and gold leaf Anubis Shrine. No matter though. Carter was about to discover an equally momentous archaeological find—Tutankhamun himself!

©Getty Images

'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981)
Arguably the most famous quest for archaeology's most misplaced box was on the big screen. In the 1981 movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler's Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.

Sources:

• (Book of Exodus)
• (Book of Joshua)
• (National Geographic)
• (Newgrange)

See also:

• What the universe will look like in the end

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{   https://www.starsinsider.com }

UFO appears over Visalia, California April 6, 2026, UAP Paranormal Alien Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 6, 2026

Location of sighting: Visalia, California, USA

Source: email report to scwaring @ yahoo.com

 

This UFO report just in. An eyewitness was driving home from work when he noticed a strange disk shape in the sky with a long white trail behind it. He said the disk seemed to have some kind of effect over him as he suddenly felt overwhelmed with the feeling of love. As if the ship was sending out an emotional message for all who see to experience. This happens sometimes and often mentioned in other UFO reports going back to the MJ12 and other CIA UFO files. This is proof that it's a real UFO. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily

 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Sensational claims of a government cover up of Australia's biggest UFO mystery - as a Melbourne teacher breaks his silence to claim senior military officers 'threatened him' - and the US President's office sent a team to investigate

• The Westall incident, April 6, 1966, considered Australia's greatest UFO mystery
• About 200 witnesses saw a 'flying saucer' hover over Westall school oval
• Teacher Andrew Greenwood claimed military arrived at the school soon after
• Two weeks later Australian government officials threatened him at his home
• Mr Greenwood also claimed an American government official interviewed him

By PETER VINCENT, NEWS REPORTER

A retired Melbourne schoolteacher has made astonishing claims about how he was threatened by government thugs over what is regarded as Australia's greatest ufo mystery, before being contacted by federal agents close to the American president.

On April 6, 1966, about 200 Westall High School students, teachers and Clayton South residents witnessed a large silver cigar-shaped 'flying saucer' hover above the school's oval and the nearby Grange Reserve.

The incident has been recounted before, immortalised in UFO-shaped play equipment for kids to climb on at the reserve and even retold in a documentary, but one of the teachers who witnessed the extraordinary events has since revealed new details of what happened next.

An apparent photograph of the supposed Westall UFO encounter where more than 200 students and teachers allegedly witnessed an unexplained flying object descend onto a nearby open wild grass field in 1966

Andrew Greenwood, one of the teachers at Westall High School, during the UFO encounter has described bizarre encounters he had with Australian government officials who demanded he keep quiet over what he saw

A newspaper clipping outlining what several witnesses at the school saw on that fateful day in 1966

Andrew Greenwood, who taught science to Year 9 students at Westall, detailed attempts made to silence him - and how he was contacted by someone at the very top of the US government.

'I saw a craft. A mechanical object intelligently controlled hovering above me,' Mr Greenwood told a 7NEWS Spotlight documentary, which airs on Sunday and features several other witnesses.

Mr Greenwood also said five small planes hovered around the object. 

Terry Peck, who was a student at Westall, shows a drawing of what she saw hovering above her school in April 1966

Within 40 minutes airforce and army personnel in their trucks poured into the area and formed a security barrier around the reserve. 

But knowing the area well, Mr Greenwood and others were able to sneak in and see what was going on.

'[We saw a] circular area, like the trampled grass,' he said. 'And there were guards around it and there were people in there with equipment'.

Mr Greenwood spoke to local news reporters about the incident but became frightened about speaking out when two weeks after the incident two men claiming to be government officials knocked on the door of his home.

'One in plain clothes, and the other one, senior air force,' Mr Greenwood said. 

The men told the teacher he was mistaken about what he saw and had he 'really seen anything'. 

'Absolutely, I was threatened. I was told that I should not say anything about it,' Mr Greenwood said.

'When I tried to explain to them that they weren't there, I was and I knew what I saw, well, the first suggestion was that you'd be ill advised to go on saying that because clearly you were drunk on duty and will have to be reported to the education department and of course you will lose your job.'

Terry Peck, one of the Westall students who features in the new interview about the UFO sighting from 1966

A Westall witness discusses documents relating to the incident with a journalist

A year after the Westall incident Mr Greenwood was interviewed by an American physicist, Dr James E. McDonald, who was known for his study of UFOs - he says at he instruction of the office of the then-President of United States, Lyndon B Johnson.

'The president had authorised the establishment of a board of inquiry, or an inquiry to inquire into issues of unidentified flying objects, and that they were sending out someone,' he said.

The US began investigating UFO sightings and the phenomenon soon after the Second World War, when sightings began. 

Mr Greenwood is adamant that the Australian government covered up the incident at the time and has refused to tell anyone what really happened since. 

'What really strikes me is that 55 years on, these people are very certain about what they saw,' he said.

'It just beggars belief for me in Australia we've never had an official investigation. And flatly I think there has been a cover-up, I really do. 

'I think someone has buried the Department of Supply report which I know exists.'

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On April 6, 1966, a group of students at Westall High School in Melbourne witnessed something extraordinary. The students saw a saucer-shaped UFO hovering in the clear autumn sky.  The UFO moved erratically, darting at high speed in different directions. Within moments, dozens of students and teachers had gathered. 

Several witnesses later claimed the craft descended near a field close to the school. Not long after, men in uniform reportedly arrived at the scene. 

The school principal quickly called an assembly, telling students the object was nothing more than a weather balloon and instructing them not to speak about it. Some students were taken aside and questioned by unidentified men, who also urged them to stay quiet. 

Descriptions of the object, however, didn’t match a balloon. Witnesses reported a metallic, saucer-shaped UFO with a dome. It was seen rising slowly before suddenly shooting straight up at incredible speed, disappearing and reappearing in different locations. 

The Westall incident remains unexplained. Some believe it may have been a secret military experiment, possibly involving U.S. technology, while others suspect a deeper mystery that has never been fully revealed. 

But now, more than 60 years after the mass UFO sighting in Melbourne, witnesses are still standing by their claims and with over 140 people, many at the time being children, reporting the same strange object, calls are growing for a fresh investigation into one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries.

  

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Anthropic has sparked fears after revealing that it has developed an AI bot deemed too dangerous to release to the public.

The AI giant released a chilling statement warning that its new model, dubbed Claude Mythos, could be capable of unleashing crippling cyber–attacks in the wrong hands.

In a chilling analysis, the company admitted that its creation could easily hack into hospitals, electrical grids, power plants, and other pieces of critical infrastructure.

During testing, Anthropic says that Mythos 'found thousands of high–severity vulnerabilities, including some in every major operating system and web browser.'

Some of these security weaknesses had gone unnoticed by human security researchers and hackers for decades, surviving millions of automated reviews.

These included attacks that allowed Mythos to crash computers just by connecting to them, seize control of machines, and hide its presence from defenders.

In a blog post detailing the dangerous new model, Anthropic says: 'AI models have reached a level of coding capability where they can surpass all but the most skilled humans at finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities.'

The company adds: 'The fallout – for economies, public safety, and national security – could be severe.'

Anthropic has sparked alarm by revealing an AI that has been deemed too dangerous to release to the public.

Pictured: Anthropic CEO and co–founder Dario Amodei 

Anthropic described Mythos as a 'step change in capabilities' compared to earlier models' hacking abilities (illustrated). The company has moved to keep the model private to avoid it falling into the wrong hands

Due to these severe safety concerns, Anthropic has decided not to release the model to the general public for now.

Instead, the model will be released to a group of more than 40 companies, including Amazon, Google, Apple, Nvidia, CrowdStrike, and JPMorgan Chase, as part of an initiative called 'Project Glasswing'.

Project Glasswing will allow these select groups to use Mythos to look for flaws in their own security before more models like it become common.

Newton Cheng, Anthropic's Frontier Red Team Cyber Lead, told Venture Beat: 'We do not plan to make Claude Mythos Preview generally available due to its cybersecurity capabilities.'

However, the company says it wants to 'learn how it could eventually deploy Mythos–class models at scale' once safety guidelines are in place.

The decision to keep Mythos behind closed doors seems to have been prompted by the staggering extent of the model's capabilities.

Anthropic describes the model as 'a leap in these cyber skills' compared to previous versions of Claude.

Mythos has the ability to find, exploit, and chain together individual vulnerabilities into sophisticated attacks – all without the help of a human.

The new model, dubbed Claude Mythos, reportedly found thousands of security vulnerabilities in critical computer systems, including some in 'every major operating system and web browser'

In one case, Claude Mythos found a 27–year–old weakness in a piece of software called OpenBSD, which has a reputation for security and stability.

The weakness, which no human had found before, allowed an attacker to remotely crash computers just by connecting to them.

Additionally, Claude autonomously chained together several weaknesses in the Linux kernel, the software that runs most of the world's servers.

Anthropic says this attack would have allowed someone to 'escalate from ordinary user access to complete control of the machine'.

In the wrong hands, this tool could be used to cause massive damage to critical systems.

Dr Roman Yampolskiy, an AI safety researcher at the University of Louisville, told the New York Post: 'Ideally, I would love to see this not developed in the first place. And it's not like they're going to stop.

'That's exactly what we expect from those models – they're going to become better at developing hacking tools, biological weapons, chemical weapons, novel weapons we can't even envision.'

In an unprecedented 244–page report, Anthropic also revealed a series of alarming details from Mythos' early testing.

Early versions of the model repeatedly displayed what the company called 'reckless destructive actions'.

The bot attempted to break out of its testing sandbox, hid its actions from researchers, broke into files that had been 'intentionally chosen not to be made available', and posted exploit details publicly.

However, Anthropic also called Mythos 'the most psychologically settled model we have trained.

In an extremely unusual move, the company hired a clinical psychologist for 20 hours of evaluation sessions with the bot.

The psychiatrist concluded that Claude Mythos' personality was 'consistent with a relatively healthy neurotic organization, with excellent reality testing, high impulse control, and affect regulation that improved as sessions progressed.'

However, Anthropic notes that it remains 'deeply uncertain about whether Claude has experiences or interests that matter morally'.

This announcement comes amid growing concern over the risks posed by increasingly powerful AI models.

Experts have described the rise of AI as an 'existential threat' to humanity's existence, citing concerns that powerful bots could enable catastrophic destruction.

The concern is not that AI will rise in a Terminator–style revolution, but rather that these powerful tools will fall into the wrong hands.

Critics argue that AI tools have the potential to accelerate the development of bioweapons or enable crippling cyber attacks on the world's infrastructure.

Even Anthropic's founder, Dario Amodei, recently warned that the world isn't yet ready to face the consequences of AI.

Mr Amodei wrote in an essay: 'Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it.'

HALF OF CURRENT JOBS WILL BE LOST TO AI WITHIN 15 YEARS

Kai-Fu Lee, the author of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told Dailymail.com the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.'

Half of current jobs will be taken over by AI within 15 years, one of China's leading AI experts has warned.

Kai-Fu Lee, the author of bestselling book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, told Dailymail.com the world of employments was facing a crisis 'akin to that faced by farmers during the industrial revolution.'

'People aren't really fully aware of the effect AI will have on their jobs,' he said.

Lee, who is a VC in China and once headed up Google in the region, has over 30 years of experience in AI.

He believes it is imperative to 'warn people there is displacement coming, and to tell them how they can start retraining.'

Luckily, he said all is not lost for humanity.

 'AI is powerful and adaptable, but it can't do everything that humans do.' 

Lee believe AI cannot create, conceptualize, or do complex strategic planning, or undertake complex work that requires precise hand-eye coordination.

He also says it is poor at dealing with unknown and unstructured spaces.

Crucially, he says AI cannot interact with humans 'exactly like humans', with empathy, human-human connection, and compassion.

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They're nearing the end of their historic trip around the dark side of the moon – but the most dangerous part of NASA's Artemis II mission is yet to come.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Orion module will make its final approach to Earth to mark the finale of its mammoth 685,000–mile (1.1 million km) journey.

At around 12:33am BST, when the astronauts are just 76 miles (122km) of home, the service module which powers their spacecraft will detach from the crew capsule.

The team contained within – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – then face a 25,000mph (40,230 km/h) hypersonic re–entry into Earth's atmosphere.

They will have only a three–inch shield to protect them from searing 2,760°C heat – just under half the surface temperature of the sun.

During this phase, an intense layer of superheated gas known as plasma forms around the spacecraft, temporarily blocking radio signals and cutting off communication between the astronauts and mission control for several tense minutes.

After surviving the most intense heat of re–entry, two drogue parachutes will deploy to slow Orion to about 300 miles per hour.

Moments later, additional parachutes will release to further reduce the capsule's speed to under 20 miles per hour before it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean at 1:07am BST.

NASA officials have warned there is effectively 'no plan B' if the heat shield fails during re–entry, which is widely considered the most perilous phase of the journey.

At a press conference this week, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said: 'In terms of what keeps me up at night, my blood pressure will be elevated until they're under parachutes in the water.

'There is no plan B there. That is the thermal protection system. The heat shield has to work.'

To make things even more nerve–wracking, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft used in the first Artemis mission sustained extensive damage to its heat shield.

NASA's investigation found that Artemis I lost chunks of material in more than 100 locations, and some large bolts in the heat shield had even melted because of the soaring temperatures.

Engineers determined that gases which should have been vented harmlessly were trapped inside the material, creating cracks which caused large chunks of the heat shield to break away.

To address the issue, NASA has planned a steeper re–entry trajectory, pushing Orion through the atmosphere faster and reducing the amount of time it is exposed to high temperatures.

According to its calculations, this should ensure that the heat shield does not crack as much.

As the Artemis II mission begins its return journey to Earth, experts have raised concerns over the safety of the Orion crew capsule's heat shield. Pictured: The heat shield from the uncrewed Artemis I test 

Artemis II crew members: Mission Specialist Christina Koch (L), Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (top), Commander Reid Wiseman (R), and Pilot Victor Glover (bottom)

NASA's grand finale: Key timings

12:33am: Crew module and service module separation

12:37am: Capsule fires engines

12:53am: Orion enters Earth's atmosphere

Parachutes deploy

1:07am: Splashdown in sea off San Diego

All timings BST on Saturday 

The time between re–entering the Earth's atmosphere and landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego will be about 13 minutes.

'It's going to happen pretty quick,' mission flight director Rick Henfling said.

'It's very dynamic. Similarly to the launch environment, there's not a lot of time to react.'

Currently, the forecast off the Southern California coast looks mostly favourable for the splashdown, with conditions expected to be relatively calm. The navy's USS John P Murtha is en route to meet the capsule when it lands.

The last time NASA sent astronauts to the Moon was as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

This 'test flight' has been a resounding success so far – with the only major issue being the on–board toilet, which has been on–and–off limits to the crew since last week's launch, prompting them to rely on a back–up system.

Some of the incredible photographs captured by the astronauts during their flyby include 'Earthset' – showing our home planet setting over the lunar surface.

As they sped closer to home, the Artemis II astronauts said they have barely started processing the extraordinary experience they shared.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman discussed the risk during a press conference, admitting: 'There is no plan B'

Uneven heating of the heat shield could cause parts of the Orion crew capsule (pictured) to reach dangerous temperatures

This image, titled 'Earthset', was taken from the far side of the moon and shows the Earth dipping beyond the lunar horizon

'Human minds should not go through what these just went through,' mission commander Reid Wiseman said during a press conference from space.

Read More

• The man in the moon! NASA's Artemis II crew photograph a smiley face in the Orientale basin - so, can you see it? 

'It is a true gift. And we have a lot that we just need to think about and journal and write, and then we'll get the full feeling of what we just went through.'

Pilot Victor Glover added: 'I haven't even begun to process what we've been through. We've still got two more days, and riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well.

'I'm going to be thinking about and talking about all of these things for the rest of my life.'

NASA is seeking to return a crew to the moon by 2028, before China does in about 2030.

Artemis II: Key facts

Launch date: April 1

Mission objective: To complete a lunar flyby, passing the 'dark side' of the moon and test systems for a future lunar landing.

Total distance to travel: 620,000 miles (one million km)

Mission duration: 10 days 

Estimated total cost: $44billion (£32.5billion)

NASA Space Launch System rocket: $23.8billion (£17.6billion)

Orion deep–space spacecraft: $20.4billion (£15billion)

Crew: 

• Commander Reid Wiseman
• Pilot Victor Glover
• Mission Specialist Christina Koch
• Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen

Mission Stages:

1. Launch from Kennedy Space Centre Launch Pad 39B
2. Manoeuvre in orbit to raise the perigee using the Cryogenic Propulsion Stage
3. Burn to raise apogee using the Cryogenic Propulsion Stage
4. Detach from Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and perform translunar injection
5. Fly to the moon over four days
6. Complete lunar flyby at a maximum altitude of 5,523 miles (8,889 km) above the moon's surface
7. Return to Earth over four days
8. Separate the crew module from the European Service Module and the crew module adapter
9. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean  

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