Artemis II astronauts find hidden Easter eggs as they close in on the moon

Space Artemis II astronauts find hidden eggs on Easter Sunday as they close in on the moon By William Harwood William Harwood CBS News Space Consultant Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. Read Full Bio William Harwood April 5, 2026 / 5:14 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google As the four Artemis II astronauts closed in on the moon, they took time to send Easter greetings to Earth and had their own version of an egg hunt.Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch on Sunday presented "astronaut wings" to Canadian crewmate Jeremy Hansen, making his first space flight, before getting down to work carrying out planned tests of new Artemis pressure suits. But first, Koch passed along Easter greetings to flight controllers."This time of year is something that many religions and many cultures hold dear," Koch said. "It's a time of emotions such as joy, as well as solemnness, honoring what's going on both in our world and in our religious beliefs." The Artemis II astronauts sent down Easter greetings Sunday as their Orion spacecraft carried them toward a pass over the moon's normally unseen far side Monday. Left to right: Victor Glover, Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch. Commander Reid Wiseman is out of view to the right. NASA "Another aspect of that is our family tradition ... If I was on the Earth right now, I would be with my family in Houston and we would be hiding confetti eggs in the backyard and watching two very sweet little girls go try to find them."Koch said the crew had hidden eggs around the cabin to mark the holiday. "They were the dehydrated scrambled egg variety," she added, "but we're all pretty happy with them."Overnight Saturday, Koch said the crew had switched from measuring their increasing distance from Earth to tracking their decreasing distance to the moon. At the time she spoke, t...