Artemis II Completes Flyby of the Far Side of the Moon: Astronauts Set Record Distance from Earth (VIDEO)
Artemis II Completes Flyby of the Far Side of the Moon: Astronauts Set Record Distance from Earth
On the night of April 6-7, 2026, the Orion capsule successfully completed its lunar flyby, the most anticipated maneuver of the first crewed mission of the Artemis program. The astronauts also surpassed the record for distance from Earth set by Apollo 13 in 1970, reaching 406,771 km from our planet.
Artemis Astronauts preparing for Historic Lunar Flyby. The NASA View of the Earth
«The Artemis astronauts are gearing up for their long-anticipated lunar flyby, including reviewing the surface features they must analyse and photograph during their time circling the Moon» ABC News has reported a fews hours ago.
“Morale is high on board,” Commander Reid Wiseman told Houston’s Mission Control Center, as the crew’s new work day began.
The next major milestone of the approximately 10-day journey is expected on day six, (early Tuesday Australian time) at which point the astronauts will enter the “lunar sphere of influence”, when the Moon’s gravity will have a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s.
If all proceeds smoothly, as Orion whips around the Moon, the astronauts could set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before.
The astronauts kicked off day four with a meal that included scrambled eggs and coffee, NASA said, and were woken up to the tune of Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club.
Commander Wiseman along with fellow Americans Christina Koch and Victor Glover as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen are on a historic journey around the Moon, which they are soon due to slingshot around.
It is a feat Commander Wiseman has dubbed “Herculean” and which humanity has not accomplished in more than half a century.
Later on day four, Glover was due to take manual control of the spacecraft to test its performance in deep space.
