April 8 (UPI) -- On Wednesday, two days after their historic moon flyby, the crew of the Artemis II mission settled in for a day of testing and preparation for the mission's return to Earth.
This marks the eighth day of the 10-day mission, manned by NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The astronauts woke up to "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie before a morning greeting from CSA workers on Earth, Space.com reported.
"Your friends and colleagues at the Canadian Space Agency wish you another great day on your voyage," the message said. "Canadians everywhere are inspired by your journey, and we're with you every step of the way. Let's go!"
Items on the docket for Wednesday included the daily exercise routine, a media talk, and some manual flying of the Orion capsule and connected testing.
As the astronauts woke for their eighth day, the spacecraft was still closer to the moon (about 83,000 miles) than to Earth (about 200,000 miles). However, the focus was very much on that return. The astronauts also will do some tests on a garment meant to help them maintain bodily systems such as circulation and blood pressure as they head back to Earth gravity, but a radiation-shielding test was canceled in favor of preparing for reentry.
