Artemis II Crew Breaks Distance Record Set by Apollo 13

On Monday, the Artemis II crew made an exciting announcement: they have officially surpassed the distance record that Apollo 13 set back in 1970.

For 56 years, the Apollo 13 team—composed of Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Hayes—held the record after an oxygen tank explosion forced them to abort their moon landing mission. Now, the Artemis II crew, which includes NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, has taken the title.

At around 1:57 p.m. ET, they crossed the 248,655-mile mark, gearing up to reach a maximum distance of about 252,752 miles from Earth later in the day. This achievement comes nearly 56 years after Apollo 13 set its record on April 15, 1970.

This peak distance will be reached shortly after the Orion capsule makes its closest approach to the moon, flying approximately 4,070 miles above its surface. Throughout the seven-hour flight, the astronauts will engage in detailed observations and capture high-resolution images of the moon’s far side.

Interestingly, the mission’s unique solar alignment will provide the crew with an opportunity to observe and document parts of the moon’s surface under lighting conditions that reveal details never seen before by the human eye.

This unprecedented distance was marked during a planned communications blackout, lasting about 41 minutes, when the moon’s mass temporarily blocked all signals between the Orion spacecraft and Earth.

During the flyby, the astronauts divided into pairs for intensive observations. One pair focused on mission tasks and physical exercise, while the other concentrated on scientific assessments of the lunar surface.

Using high-resolution zoom lenses and digital cameras, they documented specific geological sites on the moon’s far side, capturing details that robotic sensors might overlook.

Even when avoiding the far side of the moon, the crew maintained a lively dialogue with lunar scientists back in Houston, sharing insights as they traversed a “free return” trajectory reminiscent of Apollo 13’s path back to Earth.

In addition to lunar observations, the astronauts also utilized special glasses to safely view the Sun’s corona during a 53-minute occultation, witnessing a solar eclipse as the Moon passed directly in front of the Sun.

After the lunar flyby, the Orion spacecraft will harness the moon’s gravity to perform a sort of celestial “U-turn,” returning to a free return orbit toward Earth.

The entire round trip is expected to take about four days, with Artemis II concluding its mission with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego on Friday, April 10, around 8:07 p.m. ET.

At the highest point of their journey, the crew viewed the moon as about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. Previous crews had orbited the far side since Apollo 8 in 1968, but their missions focused on landing on the near side, which meant much of the far side remained obscured or dimly lit.

Thanks to the timing of Artemis II, the sun will illuminate roughly 20% of the far side during this flyby, allowing the astronauts to observe and document features previously unrecorded in similar lighting conditions during manned missions.