US EditionArtemis II astronauts break Apollo 13 record for traveling farthest from Earth
The crew became the farthest humans from Earth and captured a rare eclipse while testing Orion on a planned lunar flyby.
- On Monday, April 06, 2026, NASA's Artemis II astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen became the farthest humans from Earth, breaking Apollo 13's 56-year distance record.
- Utilizing a figure-eight free-return trajectory, the mission leverages Earth and lunar gravity to navigate the Moon's far side, mirroring the emergency path taken by Apollo 13 during their 1970 crisis.
- Reaching roughly 252,760 miles from Earth, the crew surpassed the previous 248,655-mile mark and will conduct seven hours of lunar observation while passing within 4,070 miles of the Moon's surface.
- Crew members awoke to a recorded message from late Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who said, "Welcome to my old neighborhood." The team is performing real-time data analysis to inform future Moon exploration.
- This milestone validates Orion systems for the 2028 Artemis III landing as the test flight concludes Friday, April 10, with a planned Pacific splashdown near San Diego.
396 Articles
396 Articles
Artemis II completes record-breaking trip around moon
Houston: Emerging from behind the moon, the Artemis II astronauts pointed their capsule toward home Monday night after beholding views of the lunar far side never before witnessed and setting a new distance record for humanity. The seven-hour flyby was the highlight of NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo era with three Americans and one Canadian – a step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years. First …
Artemis crew reemerge from Moon communication blackout
The four astronauts carrying out NASA's first lunar flyby in more than half-a-century have renewed communications and were sending back detailed observations of the Moon after traveling further from Earth than any human before.
NE Iowa Publishing
Artemis astronauts survey lunar surface on flyby, solar eclipse up next
The four astronauts carrying out NASA's first lunar flyby in more than half-a-century were sending back detailed observations of the Moon after traveling further from Earth than any human before.
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