The Orion spacecraft of Artemis II achieved a new milestone by breaking the record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth at 1:57 p.m. ET. There was a temporary loss of communication with mission control for about 40 minutes around 6:44 p.m. ET when the spacecraft passed behind the moon. Later, at approximately 7 p.m. ET, the crew witnessed the moon’s far side with the naked eye during their closest approach. The spacecraft entered an eclipse at around 8:32 p.m. ET, lasting for an hour with the sun obscured by the moon from their perspective. The lunar flyby phase concluded around 9:35 p.m. ET, with the crew preparing to transmit images back to NASA’s team before heading back towards Earth.
The crew of Artemis II expressed awe at the sights they witnessed during the total solar eclipse and their historic journey around the moon. Pilot Victor Glover struggled to articulate the experience, stating that it was beyond words, while Commander Reid Wiseman described the views as spectacular and surreal. Crew members observed flashes of meteors hitting the moon, identified details on the lunar surface, and spotted Mars, Venus, and Saturn in the distance.
Artemis II surpassed the previous distance record set by Apollo 13, reaching 406,771 kilometers from Earth. The crew, including Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and three American astronauts, now holds the record for the farthest journey into space. Following the successful lunar flyby, the spacecraft is now on its way back to Earth, with a scheduled landing in the Pacific near San Diego on Friday.
During the mission, the astronauts proposed naming two lunar craters, Integrity and Carroll, in honor of their capsule and Wiseman’s late wife. They shared emotional moments as they broke the distance record and made history by exploring regions of the moon previously unseen by human eyes. The crew also prepared to depart the lunar sphere of influence and return to Earth, following a trajectory similar to Apollo 13’s free-return path for a safe journey home.