The Artemis II crew has officially made history, becoming the farthest humans to ever travel from Earth before beginning their journey back home, as reported by The Guardian. This incredible achievement saw astronauts break the distance record previously held by the Apollo 13 mission from 1970, marking a significant milestone in space exploration.
On Monday, at 1:57 PM Eastern Time, the four-person crew aboard the Orion capsule surpassed Apollo 13’s record, hugging each other in their cramped quarters as they cemented their place in the history books. Just a few hours later, at 7:02 PM ET, the crew reached the mission’s furthest point, an astounding 252,756 miles from Earth. That’s a full 4,111 miles farther than the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission managed back in its day.
The brave individuals making this journey are Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch from NASA, joined by Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. They’ve traveled over 5,000 miles beyond the moon, truly pushing the boundaries of human reach. The Apollo 13 crew, consisting of commander Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, had reached a maximum of 248,655 miles from Earth before their emergency turnaround.
This mission, now in its sixth day, has truly reinvigorated NASA’s space exploration program
Before the capsule swung around the far side of the moon, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed back, “It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable.” He also threw down a challenge to future generations, urging “this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”
As the capsule passed behind the moon, the crew experienced a communications blackout that lasted about 40 minutes. Just before losing connection, Glover confidently stated, “We will see you on the other side.” When NASA reestablished contact at 7:24 PM ET, Koch shared her emotional experience of witnessing Earthrise. She reflected on the powerful sight, saying, “We will always choose Earth, we will always choose each other.”
Earlier on Monday, NASA provided the crew with a list of 30 lunar surface targets to observe during a seven-hour window while they were close enough to get a good look. These included the massive Orientale basin, a 3.8-billion-year-old, 600-mile-wide crater that spans both the moon’s near and far sides, and the 400-mile-wide Hertzsprung basin on the far side.
In a truly touching moment, Hansen revealed that the astronauts had proposed naming a crater they observed in honor of Wiseman’s late wife, who passed away in 2020. “It’s a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call it Carroll,” Hansen said. The crew also decided to name another crater “Integrity,” a nod to their spacecraft. A NASA spokesperson confirmed that these proposed names will be submitted to the International Astronomical Union, the official body for naming celestial objects.
Koch further elaborated on her deep connection with the lunar landscape. “I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon,” she explained. “It lasted just a second or two, and I actually couldn’t even make it happen again. But something just drew me in suddenly to the lunar landscape, and it became real.”
She added that the moon “really is its own body in the universe – it’s not just a poster in the sky. It is a real place. And when we have that perspective and we compare it to our home of Earth, it just reminds us how much we have in common. Everything we need, Earth provides. And that is somewhat of a miracle, and one that you can’t truly know until you’ve had the perspective of the other.”
The roughly six-hour flyby on Monday provided views of the moon’s far side that were either too dark or simply too difficult for the Apollo program astronauts to see over half a century ago. Koch noted that while the crew doesn’t dwell on superlatives, setting this record is an important milestone “that people can understand and wrap their heads around,” perfectly blending the past with the present and even the future of space travel.
Later on Monday, President Trump called to congratulate the astronauts circling the moon for making “history,” telling them they had “made all America really proud, incredibly proud.” He added, “You really are modern-day pioneers – all of you. You’ve got a lot of courage doing what you’re doing.”
As the crew rounded the moon and set their sights on home, a total solar eclipse was also gracing Earth’s sky. This hour-long celestial event allowed the astronauts to complete a final part of their mission: observing the sun’s corona while the main star was hidden. “After all of the things we saw earlier, we just went sci-fi,” Glover remarked, describing the phenomenon. “It just looks unreal, the Earthshine.” By 9:35 PM ET, the Orion capsule had finished its observations and was firmly on its way back home to planet Earth.
Published: Apr 7, 2026 04:00 pm