Artemis II astronauts saw six brief white flashes from the moon during a solar eclipse, witnessing meteorite impacts on the lunar surface that would normally go unnoticed.
The astronauts told NASA’s control room about what they saw. The flashes were white or blue-white and lasted less than one second. The cameras on their spacecraft could not see these flashes because they were not fast enough.
The astronauts were between 6,000 and 7,000 kilometers away from the moon when they spotted the flashes. These impacts normally would have gone unseen. However, since the far side of the moon was dark during the eclipse, the astronauts could see the bright flashes against the dark surface.
Before their trip, the Artemis II team learned how to spot meteorite impacts on the moon. They knew right away what they were seeing and reported it to NASA. NASA later confirmed these were natural collisions with the moon. These kinds of impacts have been watched by NASA for many years.