What Astronauts Found on the Far Side of the Moon Is Terrifying

Video Description

Welcome to Night Science! The Artemis II crew just completed the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972, and what they saw behind the Moon will leave you speechless. In this Science for Sleep Documentary, we follow NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen as they travel farther from Earth than any humans in history, breaking the Apollo 13 distance record at 252,756 miles. During a 40-minute communications blackout behind the far side, the crew witnessed six meteoroid impact flashes on the lunar surface, observed terrain never before seen by human eyes, and experienced a total solar eclipse lasting nearly an hour from just 4,000 miles above the Moon. We explore why the far side looks nothing like the near side, what the KREEP terrane tells us about the Moon's volcanic history, how cosmic rays create light flashes inside astronaut eyeballs, and the emotional moment when the crew named a crater after Commander Wiseman's late wife Carroll. Topics covered: Artemis II mission, NASA Orion spacecraft, lunar far side geology, Moon near side far side asymmetry, KREEP terrane, Procellarum, meteoroid impact flashes, NELIOTA lunar monitoring, lunar south pole water ice, South Pole Aitken Basin, Chang'e 6 samples, Theia Moon formation, Reiner Gamma magnetic anomaly, lunar swirls, cosmic rays astronaut health, deep space radiation, Apollo 8 Earthrise, overview effect, solar corona observation, Earthshine, lunar terminator, Orientale basin, Hertzsprung crater, Jim Lovell Apollo 13, lunar reconnaissance orbiter, space weathering, meteoroid hazard lunar base Whether you drift off to sleep or stay awake for the entire journey, this documentary covers every discovery from humanity's historic return to the Moon.