The crew of the Artemis II mission witnessed flashes of light while on the far side of the Moon, caused by space debris striking the lunar surface. The astronauts themselves recounted this, describing how it unfolded at two key moments in the story.
The first moment when the crew witnessed the flashes occurred during a scheduled communications blackout, while they were on the far side of the Moon. At that time, the astronauts saw sudden bursts of light, which turned out to be caused by space debris hitting the lunar surface.
The second key moment came when the lunar science team received this news at mission control. Crew members gave a detailed account of what the situation was like both at the moment of witnessing the flashes and in the reaction to the information after it returned to Earth.
The communications blackout on the far side of the Moon is a routine, pre-planned situation, so it is no surprise that the crew was not expecting anything out of the ordinary at that moment. However, the light flashes produced by debris impacts show that even during a brief window of "silence," valuable observation events can occur that later add to our understanding of the lunar surface.
Notably, the information reached Earth only after communications were restored, and the science team learned of it later than the crew did. This once again highlights the role that a temporary lack of communications plays in recording phenomena occurring during a mission.
What data will ultimately be gleaned from this observation, and whether it will be used in planning future missions, remains unclear.
