Artemis II Astronauts Swing Past Moon, Set Distance Record
Having launched on April 1st and spending the first mission day performing systems checks, Orion spacecraft 'Integrity' performed its trans-lunar burn on April 2nd, burning for five minutes and fifty seconds, to it and astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen from their highly elliptical Earth orbit onto a trajectory that slingshots it around the Moon and eventually toward the eastern Pacific.
The trajectory to send them 'uphill' took several days, with preparations for activities while zooming by the Moon beginning on April 6th. To wake the four astronauts for the day, NASA played a recorded message from the late Jim Lovell, of Apollo 8 and Apollo 13:
"Welcome to my old neighborhood! ... I’m proud to pass that torch on to you — as you swing around the Moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars … for the benefit of all. It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be."
For their lunar flyby, the crew was at the windows of 'Integrity', busily imaging the surface with Nikon D5 and Nikon Z9 cameras. During their activities, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen set the record for the furthest people have traveled from the Moon with a distance of 252,752 miles (406,765 kilometers). They also came within 4,067 miles (6,545 kilometers) of the lunar surface during the flyby while out of line-of-sight and communication with Earth.
New record🥇
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) April 6, 2026
The Artemis II astronauts are now farther from Earth than humans have ever been! At 1:57 p.m. EDT, they broke the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
Their journey around the far side of the Moon today will take them a maximum distance of 252,752 miles from Earth. pic.twitter.com/P5Swojpn0n
Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back.
— NASA (@NASA) April 7, 2026
Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: https://t.co/rzM1P0QbOl pic.twitter.com/6jWINHkDLh
While flying behind the Moon, the four astronauts witnessed an Earth-rise and an Earth-set along with a lunar eclipse, capturing images of those spectacles too (available in high quality here).
Following the flyby, the trajectory 'Integrity' placed itself onto back on April 2nd threw the spacecraft away from lunar gravity's influence within a day, leaving the Moon behind the spacecraft. While 'departing', the Artemis II crew is set to talk to astronauts onboard the International Space Station and science teams back on Earth.
As the Moon is now behind the Orion spacecraft 'Integrity', the Artemis II mission is now on the trek home to Earth. At present, there are three days left in the mission ahead of atmospheric reentry on April 10th for a splashdown off the coast of California. Remaining mission events can be found here.
