NASA astronauts have traveled around the dark side of the Moon and set a record for the farthest distance ever traveled by humans away from Earth.
But during the Artemis II mission, they also found time for a lighter experiment: playing with water in weightlessness.
A video released by NASA shows the Artemis II team experimenting with a drop of water inside the Orion capsule. The liquid is seen taking the shape of a nearly perfect sphere as it floats in the cabin.
At one point, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, for whom Artemis II was his first spaceflight, looks through the water sphere, which turns his image upside down. He then “catches” the water ball with a straw and releases it back into microgravity.
NASA said that during the mission, the astronauts had fun seeing how water behaves in weightlessness. Since Hansen had never been to space before, other crew members showed him up close some of the physical effects of water in this unusual environment.
On Earth, water that is not in a container spreads out into a pool due to gravity. In space, where gravity is very weak, the molecules on the surface of water are attracted to each other equally from all directions. For this reason, water takes on the shape of a sphere.
A sphere is the shape that has the smallest possible surface area for a given volume. Therefore, when gravity is not pressing water down, surface tension pulls it into a ball shape.
Similar experiments have been conducted on the International Space Station. Astronauts have squeezed, for example, a wet cloth to show how water doesn't drip like it does on Earth, but spreads along the surface and "sticks" to their hands.
The video has captivated many followers. Some called the experiment “deeply human,” because it shows that exploration is not just about technology, but also about curiosity and the desire to understand completely new environments. Others wrote that space can’t be all seriousness; there should be a little playfulness.
However, not everyone was enthusiastic. Some users raised safety concerns, asking if water could be dangerous near the cables and electronics inside the capsule. Others questioned whether such an experiment should be allowed in such a sensitive environment.
The Artemis II astronauts have now returned to Earth after a 10-day journey, during which they reached 252,756 miles, or 406,771 kilometers, from home.
The flight around the Moon and back to Earth took them further than any other human in history, breaking the previous record set by the Apollo 13 mission. In 1970, the Apollo 13 crew reached 248,655 miles from Earth, while Artemis II crossed this distance on the sixth day of the mission.
During the flyby, the astronauts also named two new craters discovered on the lunar surface. One of them was named Carroll, in honor of the late wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman.
Amit Kshatriya, NASA's associate administrator, called Artemis II "the most important human space exploration mission in decades."
However, while the mission was hailed as a huge success, NASA's plan to return humans to the Moon by 2028 could face delays. A new audit by NASA's Office of Inspector General warns that the agency is struggling to ensure that next-generation spacesuits are ready on time.
These suits are essential for astronauts to be able to walk safely on the lunar surface. Any delay in their development could directly impact the timeline for humanity's return to the Moon.
Officials have acknowledged that the initial development timelines were overly optimistic and have now been pushed back by more than a year. In a worst-case scenario, auditors warn that major spacesuit demonstrations may not occur until 2031, several years after NASA aims to land humans on the Moon again. /GazetaExpress/
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