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NASA has released digital annotations by Artemis II astronauts marking five faint flashes they saw on the Moon during the April 6, 2026 lunar flyby eclipse. The notes identify where the crew spotted the flashes, which NASA’s science team attributed to rocky fragments striking the lunar surface. They are annotations on images—not the crew’s private paper notebooks or complete journals.
What did the Artemis II astronauts write on the Moon image?
The featured image is a visualization of the Moon darkened as it eclipsed the Sun during the April 6, 2026 flyby. Three crew members marked the locations of flashes they observed on the lunar surface. NASA’s caption identifies Reid Wiseman’s annotations in blue, Victor Glover’s in green, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s in red. NASA’s release includes the annotated image.
These are digital handwritten marks on crew-observation images. The release does not describe them as paper notebooks or a full record of each astronaut’s personal notes.
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From about 46,000 miles away from the Moon, the astronauts reported five extremely faint flashes, which they described as pinpricks. The science team considered possible alternatives, including cosmic rays and reflections from the spacecraft, before confirming the observations. NASA’s preliminary report says the flashes were caused by rocky fragments hitting the Moon. NASA Science’s report page explains the observations.
NASA quotes Glover describing the boundary between lunar day and night, known as the terminator, as “the most striking thing that I’ve seen so far.” The preliminary report also covers the crew’s observations of lunar colors, the terminator, the eclipse, and the solar corona.
Why the impact-flash observations matter
Observations made directly by astronauts add evidence that researchers can use to study how often small objects strike the Moon. Understanding impact frequency can inform long-term planning for lunar habitats and infrastructure. The five reported flashes are a useful observational dataset, not by themselves a definitive impact-rate estimate or a complete assessment of risks to future missions.
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What NASA released with the notes
NASA’s October 7, 2026 release made more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II lunar science data available through the Planetary Data System. The collection includes more than 11,000 full-resolution images and video, 8.5 hours of audio recordings of the crew’s lunar observations, and crew-annotated images. NASA also published three companion documents:
- Preliminary Lunar Science Report: discusses the observations and their scientific context.
- Lunar Science Operations Report: describes lunar science operations.
- Lunar Science Data User Guide: helps readers understand the data.
NASA dates the preliminary report October 7, 2026, and lists the operations report and user guide as October 6, 2026. The NASA Science page links to the reports and related mission images and audio. NASA’s Planetary Data System also catalogs an Artemis 2 Mission Crew Annotation Files Product Collection, published in 2026.
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How to explore the Artemis II lunar science material
- Open NASA’s Artemis II lunar science page to find the reports, images, audio, and related descriptions.
- For the annotation files themselves, open the PDS crew annotation collection.
- Use the image annotations to see marked locations, audio to access spoken observations, and the reports for scientific context and information about the data.
Which astronauts took part in Artemis II?
The Artemis II crew was NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, together with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. NASA describes Artemis II as the first crewed test flight in the Artemis campaign. The Artemis II mission press kit provides mission background.
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