Artemis II Makes History: NASA Crew Breaks Apollo 13 Distance Record in Lunar Flyby

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For the first time in over five decades, humans have traveled farther from Earth than any astronauts before them. NASA’s Artemis II crew completed a historic lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970 and marking a defining moment in humanity’s return to the Moon.

The Record-Breaking Distance

The Artemis II crew reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,974 km) from Earth — 4,111 miles farther than Apollo 13’s record set 56 years ago. The mission launched on April 1, 2026, and during the lunar flyby, the crew came within 4,067 miles of the Moon’s surface, experiencing a 40-minute communication blackout as their spacecraft traveled behind the Moon.

A Crew of Historic Firsts

The four-person crew aboard the Orion spacecraft set multiple individual records:

• Victor Glover — first person of color to travel around the Moon
• Christina Koch — first woman to travel around the Moon
• Reid Wiseman — oldest person to travel around the Moon
• Jeremy Hansen — first non-American to travel around the Moon (Canadian Space Agency)

Together, they represent a new era of inclusive human spaceflight that NASA has championed under its Artemis program.

The Seven-Hour Lunar Flyby

The flyby itself lasted approximately seven hours. During this time, the Orion capsule performed a powered flyby maneuver, using the Moon’s gravity to build speed for the return trip to Earth. As the spacecraft looped behind the Moon, all communication with mission control in Houston was cut off — a tense but expected 40-minute window that engineers had planned for carefully.

Upon re-establishing contact, mission controllers confirmed the crew’s health and that all spacecraft systems were functioning normally. The crew is now on a trajectory for splashdown off the coast of San Diego, expected at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 10, 2026.

Why Artemis II Matters

Unlike Apollo 13, which was an emergency that brought its crew to a record-breaking distance unintentionally, Artemis II was a planned crewed test flight of the Orion capsule and Space Launch System (SLS). The primary goal was to validate all life-support systems, navigation, and crew operations in deep space — with the Moon flyby serving as the mission’s centerpiece.

This mission sets the stage for Artemis III, which aims to land humans on the lunar south pole for the first time, targeting 2027. Scientists believe the region holds water ice that could be used to sustain a long-term lunar presence.

This article was written by AI based on publicly available information. / この記事は公開情報をもとにAIが作成しました。