Special to CosmicTribune.com, April 6, 2026

On its mission around the moon and back to Earth, the crew of Orion spacecraft on Flight Day 4 became the first astronauts in more than 50 years to report flying in deep space.

Artemis II was set to enter the moon’s gravitational influence on Easter Sunday.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen performed a manual test to manually fly the spacecraft.

Related: NASA’S geopolitical coup: Nuclear electric power SR-1 to Mars by 2028, April 3, 2026

The crew of Apollo 8, on its mission around the moon during Christmas 1968, read the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis to global viewers.

Victor Glover, who has been open about his own faith, was asked during a press conference if he had any statement prepared.

“As we are so far from Earth and looking at, you know, the beauty of creation, I think that for me, one of the really important personal perspectives that I have up here, is I can really see Earth as one thing,” he said.

“I think as we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about, you know, all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we got to get through this together,” he said.

The Artemis II’s crew were also the first humans to report seeing the Orentale Basin on the moon’s far side.

“Despite being tens of thousands of miles away, human eyes were able to see the entire impact zone and NASA shared a picture of their perspective,” T.J. Muscaro reported for The Epoch Times.

The crew additionally continues to send high-resolution photography and other data back to Earth via Artemis II’s Optical Communications System, which utilizes laser communication for transmission.

  Cosmic message from deep space on Easter Sunday, Day 4 of Artemis II