The Digester
science

Artemis II passes halfway to the moon; students find likely ancient star

Four astronauts are en route to the moon on Artemis II and scientists have announced the discovery of a very ancient, metal poor star identified by undergraduate researchers using SDSS data.

Apr 4th 2026 · United States

Insights

  • NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen launched Wednesday and are now more than halfway to the moon.
  • Orion completed its translunar injection burn Thursday and is scheduled to loop around the moon on April 6 to observe the partially lit lunar far side.
  • The crew reported and resolved minor technical issues early in flight, including a Surface Pro email problem and a malfunctioning toilet.
  • Undergraduate researchers using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data identified SDSSJ0715-7334 as a very metal poor star likely born in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
  • The team's Nature Astronomy paper finds the star’s extremely low carbon and iron abundances are consistent with formation influenced by an early primordial supernova.

Sources