Artemis II leaves Apollo 13 behind, sets new human spaceflight record

Four astronauts aboard Artemis II have set a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans in space. At 12:56 pm CDT on Monday, the crew reached 248,655 miles from Earth, surpassing the previous record held by Apollo 13. At its peak distance, the crew inside the Orion spacecraft will travel approximately 252,756 miles before beginning their journey back to Earth. Six days into the mission, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, continue capturing images of the Moon as they move farther away from Earth.

“At NASA, we dare to reach higher, explore farther, and achieve the impossible. That’s embodied perfectly by our Artemis II astronauts, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy. They are charting new frontiers for all humanity,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “Their dedication is about more than breaking records, it’s fueling our hope for a bold future. Their mission is carrying our promise to return to the Moon’s surface, this time to stay as we establish a Moon Base.”

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The mission launched successfully on April 1 aboard NASA’s Space Launch System from Kennedy Space Center. After a series of orbital maneuvers, the spacecraft set its trajectory toward the Moon. Following the milestone, astronaut Jeremy Hansen shared an emotional message from space, “From the cabin of Integrity here, as we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration. We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”

During the mission, the crew also proposed names for two lunar craters, one after their spacecraft, Integrity, and another in honor of Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll. These names will be submitted to the International Astronomical Union for approval. At their closest approach, the astronauts will come within about 4,067 miles of the Moon’s surface, becoming the first humans to directly observe parts of its far side in decades. They are also expected to witness a solar eclipse as the Moon passes in front of the Sun.

NASA anticipates a temporary 40-minute communication blackout as the Moon blocks signals between the spacecraft and Earth via the Deep Space Network. Contact will resume once the spacecraft reemerges, reconnecting with mission control at Johnson Space Center. Throughout the flyby, onboard cameras and handheld devices will capture high-resolution images of the lunar surface, including areas never seen before by human eyes.

The data collected, from imagery to telemetry, will help shape future Artemis missions and plans for a sustained human presence on the Moon. The Artemis II crew is now more than halfway through its mission and is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego on April 10. Recovery teams will transport the astronauts to the USS John P. Murtha for medical checks before returning them to NASA facilities. As part of the Artemis program, NASA aims to conduct increasingly complex missions, paving the way for long-term lunar exploration and eventual human missions to Mars.