A Day in the Life During a Lunar Odyssey

The crew members on NASA’s Artemis II lunar exploration mission are Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen. But what if there was a fifth one? What if it were you? 

 

Day 1

The launch.

April 1, 2026. The day when you set off on what is probably the most important journey of your life. You are part of the humans returning to the moon for the first time in over 50 years. You will be in space for exactly 9 days, 1 hour, and 32 minutes.

If you thought that launching with a space shuttle would be a tad more extreme than a plane takeoff, you would be cosmically wrong. Previous astronauts have described the feeling as an eight-and-a-half-minute rollercoaster drop. 

After hopefully keeping last night’s dinner inside yourself, you are officially on the furthest journey humanity has yet been to - the far side of the moon. 

Back home on Earth, everyone knows your name now. You are experiencing massive conventional and social media coverage. Humanity is watching each step (or awkward zero-gravity jump) you take. 

Tonight, you are going to go to bed for your scheduled eight-hour sleep. Instead of a bed, you get a sleeping bag attached to a wall. You will also have to strip yourself to it so that you don’t drift away and accidentally hit the big red button that reads “DO NOT TOUCH!”. 

 

Days 2-5

Living in space and lunar flyby preparation 

You are still orbiting our planet and have successfully survived the night. 

Every morning, NASA wakes you up with a song. On day 4, they chose “Pink Pony Club” by Chappel Roan. Your crew and you get mad because they cut the song before the chorus. 

For breakfast (and lunch & dinner), you have a surprisingly wide variety of foods. Although you have to rehydrate your food, you are pretty satisfied with its taste.

 

During the day, you are required to work out on the “flywheel”. You have to do that in order to compensate for the muscle and bone loss due to low gravity levels. 

After spending enough time in space, you may have gotten more comfortable with the cosmic toilet. Although initially you experienced some issues with it, the system has warmed up and works perfectly fine. 

Apart from your human needs, you also take care of some science tasks. You have to make sure every piece of equipment on board is ready for use whenever you get closer to the moon.

From time to time, you also get the chance to “drive” the spacecraft to test your piloting capabilities. Who knows, maybe your grandkids one day will be able to make donuts around the Moon.

 

Day 6

Lunar flyby. 

Today, you see parts of the moon the human eye hasn’t seen unaided. The lunar flyby at the dark side of the moon is the highlight and the purpose of the odyssey. 

You have another unique experience - watching a solar eclipse from space. During this time, the moon will be mostly dark, allowing you to observe six light flashes from meteoroids striking the lunar surface. 

Another thing you experience is “Earthset” - the disappearance of the Earth beneath the Moon’s horizon. Forty minutes later, you will see “Earthrise”.

After experiencing this, you become the human who has travelled the furthest distance from Earth. Exactly 252,756 miles or 406 771 kilometers. 

To put this into a clearer perspective, you would need to drive over 3987 times from Sofia to Blagoevgrad in order to reach the same distance. 

You are also the closest to the moon humanity has been - 4,067 miles (6,545 km) above the lunar surface. 

Reid Wiseman and fellow crew members suggested naming one of the unnamed lunar craters “Caroll.” The suggestion comes as a way to eternalize and honor Wiseman’s late wife, who unfortunately lost the battle with cancer in 2020.

 

Day 7-9

Reflection and preparation to return home.

What would any successes mean if you didn’t have anyone to share them with? On day 7, the whole crew had an audio call with your friends from the International Space Agency.

 

Day 10

Home sweet home.

Now, after experiencing so many ups in the past nine days, it is time for some downs (literally) - you must prepare for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. You successfully land back home on April 11, 2026, off the San Diego coast. 

Well, this was all of it, astronaut. From now on, you can only hope that humanity will build on your bravery and findings. Your contributions will be deeply appreciated when humanity establishes a permanent habitat on the moon - the greater goal of Artemis missions.

Until then, keep looking up.

 

 

Edited by: Veronika Ivanova & Vasil Paskov 

 

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