Artemis II Crew Flies Around Moon for First Time Since Apollo, Shattering Distance Record at 252,760 Miles

Four NASA and Canadian Space Agency astronauts completed a seven-hour lunar flyby Monday, becoming the first humans to travel around the moon in more than 50 years and setting a new record for the farthest distance any person has ever traveled from Earth. The Artemis II crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — surpassed the 248,655-mile mark set by the Apollo 13 crew in April 1970, ultimately reaching a maximum distance of 252,760 miles from Earth. The milestone came as the Orion spacecraft, nicknamed Integrity, swung around the lunar far side in a 40-minute communications blackout before emerging back on course for its return journey.

The crew entered the lunar sphere of influence at 12:37 a.m. EDT Monday, the point at which the Moon's gravity exerted a stronger pull than Earth's. Their closest approach brought them within 4,070 miles of the lunar surface during a six-hour observation window that gave the astronauts an unprecedented view of craters, plains, and geological formations on the far side that no human has seen directly since the Apollo era. Mission Specialist Koch became the first woman to travel around the Moon, and Pilot Glover the first person of color — both firsts that underscored the historic nature of the Artemis program's broader goals.

"The moon really is its own body in the universe — it's not just a poster in the sky. It is a real place," Koch told Mission Control during the flyby, describing the view through Orion's windows. Glover, speaking to his family watching from NASA's Johnson Space Center, broadcast a simple message: "I love you from the moon." Commander Wiseman offered a rare simultaneous view: "We now have the moon and the Earth in Window 3 simultaneously, and the moon is a gibbous and the Earth is a crescent." Hansen, looking ahead to future missions, hoped the new record "is not long-lived" as NASA presses toward a crewed lunar landing near the moon's south pole in 2028.

In a touching moment, the crew proposed names for two craters they observed during the flyby: one after the spacecraft itself — Integrity — and another after Carroll Wiseman, the commander's late wife. The proposals will go to the International Astronomical Union for formal consideration. The crew also reported seeing the lunar far side's famously rugged terrain in detail, describing a landscape dominated entirely by meteor impact craters and "impossibly rugged" formations.

Artemis II launched on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 departed in December 1972. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacson called the liftoff "a defining moment for our nation" and part of a sustained effort to build a permanent presence at the Moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars. The crew is now headed back toward Earth and is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego on April 10. The mission's success clears the path for Artemis III, which will attempt the first crewed lunar landing in over half a century.