science
NASA's Artemis II Mission Completes Lunar Flyby, Releases Images and Breaks Distance Record
The Artemis II mission crew traveled farther from Earth than any previous human spaceflight, reaching 248,655 miles during a lunar flyby. NASA released photos of Earth setting behind the Moon and the Moon eclipsing the Sun, captured from lunar orbit. The four astronauts, including three Americans and one Canadian, are returning to Earth after viewing previously unseen lunar features.
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NASA's Artemis II mission crew completed a flyby of the Moon on Monday, breaking the record for the farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth. The four-person team, consisting of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, reached 248,655 miles from Earth on the mission's sixth day.
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This surpassed the Apollo 13 milestone set in 1970.
m. Eastern time as the Orion spacecraft swung around the far side of the Moon, the first such human traversal since 1972. During the flyby, the astronauts observed parts of the Moon's far side not previously seen by human eyes.
The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center atop an SLS rocket last week.
NASA released images captured by the Artemis II crew, including Earth setting behind the Moon and the Moon eclipsing the Sun from lunar orbit.
The White House and NASA also shared additional imagery from the mission's cameras. A full gallery of Moon photos was made available, highlighting the lunar surface at close range, approximately 7,000 kilometers from the surface. The astronauts spotted several unnamed craters on the far side and proposed names for two.
They named one crater Carroll, honoring Reid Wiseman's late wife, who died in 2020. This emotional moment was shared with mission control in Houston and Wiseman's family.
“The crew had spent part of yesterday morning looking out the window at the moon.”
