The moment that space fans have waited more than 50 years for finally arrived last night, as four astronauts blasted off on a 10–day journey around the moon.
More than three million people tuned in to watch NASA’s official launch, broadcast across two YouTube streams.
During the livestream, some eagle–eyed fans spotted something unusual, around 19 minutes before launch.
Reid Wiseman, Artemis II commander, took out a tablet and typed out the PIN to unlock it.
Unbeknownst to him, a camera was recording the entire thing, broadcasting his PIN to the world in real–time.
Baffled viewers flocked to X to discuss what they’d just seen.
‘Live stream from #artemis #nasa got a camera literally pointed straight down at the cockpit…’ one user tweeted.
‘My guy just typed his iPad PIN directly into a 4K overhead shot… unlocking it for the entire planet. Command module getting opensourced but it’s ok because it’s for the ‘gram.’
The strange moment has garnered huge attention on social media.
‘Woopsie, when you enter your tablet PIN on the NASA stream,’ one viewer tweeted.
Another added: ‘Hey NASA, I appreciate you wanting to get people interested in rocket science, but maybe don’t broadcast that the PIN to unlock the tablet on the rocket is either 9393 or 3939.
‘Maybe have him change it before returning…just in case.’
And one joked: ‘astronaut types most secure pin known to man, asked to leave space agency.’
While it might seem unusual, astronauts have used tablets in space for years.
For example, on the International Space Station, tablets have a range of important uses, including health and nutrition monitoirng, operational use, and communication.
In their free time, astronauts will also use tablets for reading, playing music and watching movies.
Artemis II successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6.35pm ET on Wednesday.
The mission will take NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen farther into space than any human has ever gone before.
The crew is expected to travel approximately 250,000 miles from Earth by April 6, breaking the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
Four minutes into the historic journey, Artemis II crossed the boundary into space with no issues with the flight reported and a clear view of their target destination.
Wiseman, the mission commander, said: ‘We have a beautiful moonrise.
‘We’re headed right at it!’
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman reported after the successful launch that Artemis II suffered a temporary communications problem and was still dealing with a ‘controller issue’ with the toilet on board the Orion capsule.
However, all major systems were still functioning and the crew was busy preparing for the next stages of their orbital burn over Earth before the space agency declares the spacecraft ready for its trip to the moon.
