--- title: "NASA Curious Whether Astronauts Will See Strange Flashes of Light on the Moon" description: "During the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, astronauts saw strange flashes of light on the Moon. NASA still wants to catch them on camera." date: "2024-01-27" modified: "2024-01-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-astronauts-strange-flashes-light-moon" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "Apollo" - "artemis" - "moon" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # NASA Curious Whether Astronauts Will See Strange Flashes of Light on the Moon ![During the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, astronauts saw strange flashes of light on the Moon. NASA still wants to catch them on camera.]() *\Image: NASA / Futurism\* ## Moon Flash During NASA's Apollo 17 mission just over half a century ago, astronauts saw strange flashes of light while orbiting the Moon. "Hey, I just saw a flash on the lunar surface!" astronaut Harrison Schmitt, the twelfth person to set foot on the Moon, [told]() support crew member Gordon Fullerton. "It was a bright little flash right out there near that crater," Schmitt added. "Then there is another one north of it. Fairly sharp one north of it is where there was just a pin prick of light." While scientists have long speculated that the flashes could have been the result of meteors raining down on the Moon or [cosmic rays hitting the crew's eyes](), we have yet to capture direct evidence of them — something the scientific community is hoping will change during NASA's crewed Artemis 2 mission around the Moon. ## Photo Opp As [*Space.com* reports](), the space agency is working on coming up with photography assignments for the crew of four, which will be sent into a lunar orbit before making their long return inside an Orion spacecraft sometime next year (if everything goes according to plan.) "We have been working with the Artemis 2 crew to identify imaging and observation targets/plans for them during their journey to and from the moon," Artemis 3 project scientist Noah Petro told *Space.com*. According to the report, around five ping-pong ball-sized meteoroids impact the lunar surface every hour. Fortunately, the probability of one of these particles striking an astronaut are exceedingly slim. While Apollo 17 astronauts didn't manage to capture these pricks of light, which last a fraction of a second, that could soon change. NASA Meteoroid Environments Office lead William Cooke told *Space.com* that "you would need a video camera to record them. The odds of catching a flash in a short exposure still image are vanishingly small." "While we don't expect the crews to photograph any flashes," Petro told the publication, "their photos and descriptions of the surface and lunar environment will be an important addition to lunar science." And perhaps astronauts during Artemis 3, NASA's official return to the lunar surface, will finally be able to catch these strange flashes on tape as well. **More on Artemis:** *[Congress Terrified China Will Beat the United States to the Moon]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()