The Artemis II mission crew achieved a new milestone in human spaceflight on April 6, 2026, by traveling farther from Earth than any previous astronauts during a lunar flyby. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, aboard the Orion spacecraft surpassed the Apollo 13 record of 248,655 miles set in 1970.
The crew reached a maximum distance of approximately 252,756 miles from Earth, exceeding the prior mark by over 4,000 miles. This occurred during a seven-hour flyby that began around 2:45 p.m. EDT, with their closest approach to the moon at about 4,070 miles from the surface, roughly the size of a basketball at arm’s length. At that point, moving at an estimated 3,139 mph, they observed both near and far sides of the moon, potentially viewing far-side features with the unaided eye for the first time.
Orion entered the moon’s sphere of influence at 12:37 a.m. EDT, shifting from Earth’s to the moon’s gravitational pull. Mission Specialist Christina Koch noted they were then falling toward the moon. The flyby included a 40-minute communication blackout behind the far side, an Earthrise observation recreating the Apollo 8 image, and a solar eclipse. The crew also carried an Apollo 8 silk patch. After peaking at 7:07 p.m. EDT, Orion exited the lunar sphere and began its four-day return, set for a Pacific splashdown.