Artemis II Crew Shoots Past History—Bigger, Bolder, and Farther

On Monday, April 6, 2026, six days into the Artemis II mission, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen surpassed the record for human spaceflight’s farthest distance from Earth, which was previously set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Credit: NASA

Four astronauts on Artemis II made history Monday, reaching 248,655 miles from Earth—farther than any humans before, surpassing Apollo 13. The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—will travel even farther before looping back home, marking a major milestone for deep space exploration.

A view of the near side of the Moon, the side we always see from Earth, as seen from the Orion spacecraft.  Image Credit: NASA

Six days into the mission, the team continues capturing images of the Moon while testing systems aboard the Orion spacecraft. Launched April 1 from Kennedy Space Center, the mission is paving the way for future lunar missions and NASA’s goal of establishing a long-term presence on the Moon.

During the flyby, astronauts will pass about 4,000 miles above the Moon, view parts of the far side never seen by humans, and even witness a solar eclipse. Artemis II is now more than halfway complete, with splashdown planned for April 10 off the California coast.