US EditionArtemis II astronauts race to set a new distance record from Earth
The four astronauts are set to beat Apollo 13’s 400,171-kilometer mark as they test Orion on a free-return path home.
- Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen passed the moon yesterday, setting a new distance record as their Orion capsule heads toward a Friday splashdown in the Pacific.
- Utilizing a free-return lunar trajectory similar to Apollo 13, the mission takes advantage of Earth and lunar gravity to reduce fuel consumption while positioning astronauts for their homebound course after emerging from behind the moon.
- Artemis II surpassed the 248,655-mile distance record set by Apollo 13 in April 1970 by more than 4,100 miles, a milestone Mission Control confirmed during intense lunar fly-around observations.
- Pilot Victor Glover described Earth as "an oasis amid a whole bunch of nothing," emphasizing unity as the crew utilized years of preparation for NASA's first astronaut moonshot since 1972.
- This test flight sets the stage for Artemis III next year to practice docking with lunar landers, followed by a culminating crewed landing near the moon's south pole on Artemis IV in 2028.
24 Articles
24 Articles
5 Things We Noticed During NASA's Historic Lunar Flyby
The Artemis 2 astronauts flew around the far side of the Moon yesterday, smashing the record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth. Here are some interesting details you may have missed during the flyby.
The maximum distance from Earth has been reached. Orion has begun the moon's overflight.
The astronauts were floating 406,773 kilometers from Earth just after 1:00 AM Dutch time. No human had ever achieved that before.
Artemis II concluded this Monday with the period of lunar observation, the crucial stage of the mission and in which in less than seven hours it marked several milestones, such as the record of the greatest distance a crew has travelled to in space and the observation of the most hidden face of the Moon.
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