In a historic milestone, the four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission have achieved the greatest distance ever travelled by humans, breaking a record that had remained unchallenged for more than fifty years.
At 12:56 p.m. CDT on Monday, the crew crossed 248,655 miles from Earth, surpassing the distance reached during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, NASA said in an official statement.
The spacecraft is projected to reach a peak distance of approximately 252,756 miles before beginning its return journey, establishing a new benchmark in human spaceflight.
What comes next
Now six days into its journey, Artemis II marks NASA’s first crewed mission under the Artemis programme. The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
As the spacecraft travels deeper into space, the astronauts have been documenting the Moon, capturing images and gathering data that will aid future missions.
Journey to the Moon
The mission lifted off on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, with the crew travelling in the Orion spacecraft. After leaving Earth’s orbit, Orion set course for the Moon.
During the lunar flyby, the spacecraft is expected to pass within about 4,067 miles of the Moon’s surface. The crew will have a direct view of parts of the Moon’s far side and will also witness a solar eclipse as the Moon moves between the spacecraft and the Sun.
A communication blackout lasting around 40 minutes is anticipated when the Moon blocks signals between Orion and Earth. Communication will be restored once the spacecraft re-emerges, reconnecting with mission control at Johnson Space Center.
After completing the flyby, Orion will follow a free return trajectory back to Earth. The mission is expected to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near California after roughly ten days in space.
