NASA published over 800 gigabytes of Artemis II data on October 7, 2026, featuring 11,000 images, audio recordings, and astronaut field notes from the historic lunar flyby. The archive documents rare naked-eye meteor sightings and unexpected volcanic colors, providing essential planetary science for upcoming lunar missions.
NASA Uploads 800 Gigabytes of Artemis II Planetary Data to Public Archive
Space enthusiasts and planetary researchers can now explore NASA’s Planetary Data System to examine more than 800 gigabytes of newly public records from the Artemis II mission. The digital archive, released on October 7, 2026, marks the first time in more than half a century that humanity has obtained a major planetary science dataset captured directly by astronauts beyond Earth orbit. Their journey marked another pivotal phase in bringing travelers back to the lunar surface for the initial time since the Apollo era. Carrying out a demanding itinerary, crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen tackled numerous objectives throughout their 10-day, 700,000-mile roundtrip. Propelled by NASA’s Space Launch System, the Artemis II team lifted off on April 1st, 2026, and roughly three and a half hours after launch, the rocket’s first stage separated from the Orion spacecraft, beginning their nearly ten-day journey around the Moon. At 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 11, the crew achieved a safe splashdown off the coast of San Diego, concluding a spaceflight that lasted 9 days, 1 hour, and 32 minutes.
It also includes 8.5 hours of audio recordings documenting the crew’s real-time observations of the lunar surface. Alongside these files, space agency officials published the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report, and a comprehensive data user guide to help researchers manage the massive influx of information. According to Kelsey Young, Artemis II’s lunar science lead, the stunning views that the travelers recorded on iPhones and digital cameras helped unite the global audience behind both the mission and its crew.
Astronauts Spot Faint Meteoroid Impact Flashes During Total Lunar Eclipse
While passing behind the Moon during a nearly hour-long total solar eclipse, the crew utilized the darkened conditions to scan the unlit lunar surface for incoming space rocks. Stationed aboard the Orion spacecraft—which sat 46,000 miles from the Moon at the time—Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen observed five distinct meteoroid impacts against the pitch-black lunar backdrop. These were impact flashes caused by small rocks hitting the lunar surface and vaporizing in the impact, resulting in bursts of light coming from the rock’s pure kinetic energy rather than combustion fire because the moon lacks oxygen.
The observations confirmed earlier accounts from Apollo missions—which had reported three such flashes from lunar orbit a half-century ago, consisting of one on Apollo 16 and two on Apollo 17—while providing unprecedented detail. Mashable reported that the flashes were likely the faintest ever witnessed by human eyes. Following the sighting, the participants forwarded their newly captured footage directly to the Lunar Science Team located at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Mission Control Center in Houston. Lori Glaze, a senior NASA official, stated that the agency will use such data to judge the risk that meteorites pose to future moon bases.
“I just saw a flash, 100 percent.”
Reid Wiseman, Artemis II Commander, via Mashable
According to PetaPixel, NASA has made those handwritten tablet notes public alongside digital maps of the far side, featuring notes taken by Wiseman in blue, Hansen in red, and Glover in green.
Living Color and Volcanic Hues Across Aristarchus Plateau
Beyond tracking cosmic impacts, the crew examined the geological diversity of regions untouched by previous human visitors. Live Science detailed how the astronauts recorded unexpected shades of yellow, brown, green, blue, and tan across ancient volcanic plains. Christina Koch was shocked to see distinct yellow shades in the region, likening the plateau to a yellow snow-capped mountain, with sunlight-reflecting craters providing the bright snow, and going on to call the region a jaundiced cheek of the Moon. Victor Glover added while photographing the area that there are so many colors now, noting a green color and observing brown particularly in Aristarchus and north toward the north pole. Ariel Deutsch, a member of the Artemis II Lunar Science Team, noted during a briefing that these colors correspond to nearby browns and gray of adjacent volcanic plains, while Wiseman described the region as primarily like a brownish-green glass.
Flying roughly 4,000 miles above the lunar surface, the crew noted vibrant mineral deposits across features like the Orientale Basin, a huge, young and multiringed impact crater about three times as wide as Massachusetts. When flying over this sprawling basin, the crew noted gray, brown, tan, and green below, with the largest outermost ring containing almost swamp-like colors reported by Koch, while Glover spotted dusted peaks and white on the very edges of the mountains, spines, and ridgebacks. Wired noted that these observations offer planetary geologists fresh context for understanding different epochs of ancient volcanism, from glasslike oozes to rubbly pyroclastic flow deposits, alongside wrinkle ridges formed when heavy erupted lava squashed down on the moon’s crust.
Risk Assessments for Future Lunar Habitats and Artemis III
The newly published observations serve a practical engineering purpose as NASA prepares for future crewed landings, culminating with the founding of a small base near the moon’s south pole. By quantifying how often centimeter-sized meteorites strike the airless lunar surface, researchers can better calculate long-term risks for surface infrastructure. Debra Needham, a member of the Artemis II science operations team, noting that the ability to see such features from orbit was pretty phenomenal.
David Hollibaugh Baker, a member of the Artemis II Lunar Science Team, noted during a press conference that it is the science community's job now to take these data and go do magical things with it.