Moon Trekking II - Electric Boogaloo - IN SPACE!!!!

The Artemis II mission boldly goes where no one has gone before.

On Monday, the Orion capsule carrying 4 astronauts ventured out further than any humans have ever gone before.

Well, that we know of.

There is alleged testimony of cousin Elroy Elmore who swore he was abduted "by them thar aliens" who took him in their spaceship to Saturn for several sessions of anal probing.

He claimed it was a horrific experience but he would get a wistful smile on his face when he mentioned the anal probing.

But for the official record, the Artemis II mission went  the furtherest humankind has gone into outer space, breaking a record set by Apollo 13.  

Here's what  Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman had to say about that:   "As we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats as our predecessors in human space exploration. We will continue our journey even further into space before mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything we hold dear. While, we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long lived."

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen captured a slew of photos of the moon’s rugged terrain, sprawling impact craters and vast, dark plains.

Here is the Earth setting over the Moon's horizon.

In the middle of all this wonder, tragedy struck.

Donald Trump called.

Well, he is allegedly the President and Presidents get to do shit like this. 

Back in the 1960's, it was John F. Kennedy who got to kick off the space race to get humans to the moon but it was RIchard Nixon of all people who got to make the phone call. 

Li'l Donnie surprisingly behaved himself but when he heard one of the astronauts was Canadian, he went off on a ramble about hockey player Wayne Gretzky.  

The crew smiled politely but I can't help but wonder if the problematic space toilet with the space toilet was now the 2nd worse thing about the trip.

OK, back to space stuff! 

Here is a solar eclipse when the moon is up close.

And here's the crew watching the eclipse.

Safety first! 

Here's another spectacular shot of the moon! 

Look to the bottom of this image for the 5th member of this screw, a soft li'l plushie named Rise.

Rise is no mere toy but a ZGI, a zero gravity indicator.

In case Christine Koch's floating hair is not sufficent evidence of the absence of gravity.  

Rise is part of a tradition for other space missions to take a long a little stuffed critter to serve as a ZGI.   

So we're on the back half of the journey now as the Orion spacecraft makes it's way back to Earth. 

Check out this week's Your Friday Video Link for some videos about the Artemis II mission.