The historic seven-hour lunar flyby also marks humanity’s return to the Moon after Apollo 17 in 1972.
On Tuesday, April 7 (Manila time), the four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen—who are onboard the test flight being conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of its Artermis II made history.
Traveling 248,655 miles from Earth as they orbited the Moon, they officially surpassed the record for human spaceflight’s farthest distance, which was previously set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.
At its farthest point, crew inside the Orion spacecraft will have traveled about 252,756 miles, according to the United States’ space agency, before the crew looped back toward Earth.
The crew also came within about 4,067 miles from its surface at the closest approach, which made the astronauts to be the first humans to see some parts of the far side of the Moon with their own eyes.
Following their record achievement, CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen said while aboard the Orion spacecraft, “From the cabin of Integrity here, as we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration.”
“We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived,” he added.
Six days into continued collecting pictures of the Moon on their voyage away from Earth. They also described terrain features including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface cracks and ridges formed as the Moon slowly evolved over time.
In addition, they also noted differences in color, brightness and texture, which provide clues that help scientists understand the composition and history of the lunar surface.
The crew also suggested naming two craters on the Moon during their flight.
The first is named in honor of their spacecraft, Integrity. As for the second, it is on much more personal note, as it is suggested to be named after Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.
“After this mission is complete, the crater name proposals will be formally submitted to the International Astronomical Union, the organization that governs the naming of celestial bodies and their surface features,” according to NASA.
As the lunar observation period ended, the crew witnessed a nearly hour-long solar eclipse as the spacecraft, the Moon and the Sun aligned. With a view of a mostly darkened Moon, the crew analyzed the solar corona, which is the Sun’s outermost atmosphere, as it appeared around the Moon’s edge.
During the eclipse, the crew also had an opportunity to look for some rarely seen phenomena that are only visible on an unlit portion of the Moon. They reported six light flashes created by meteoroids impacting the lunar surface while traveling many thousands of miles per hour.
The crew also witnessed an “Earthset,” which is the moment when Earth dropped below the lunar horizon, as Orion traveled behind the Moon and an “Earthrise” as the spacecraft emerged from the opposite edge of the Moon.
Per the American space agency, the scientists are looking forward to the images captured by the team, along with the many others taken during the flyby.
After the lunar data is downlinked from the spacecraft overnight, these images, audio, and other data will be scoured through to determine better times and locations of the flashes and seek input from amateurs who were observing the Moon at the same time.
The photos, videos, mission telemetry, and communication information collected will be used to inform future Artemis missions, which will culminate with the development of a Moon Base.
“At NASA, we dare to reach higher, explore farther, and achieve the impossible. That’s embodied perfectly by our Artemis II astronauts – Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy. They are charting new frontiers for all humanity,” said Dr. Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington in a statement on the website.
“Their dedication is about more than breaking records – it’s fueling our hope for a bold future. Their mission is carrying our promise to return to the Moon’s surface, this time to stay as we establish a Moon Base.”
After the lunar observation period concluded, the Artemis II crew was also congratulated by President Donald Trump, in a live conversation that aired as part of NASA’s continuing live coverage of the mission.
The crew also spoke with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and answered questions from social media.
With the lunar flyby complete, the Artemis II astronauts are more than halfway through their mission, with the team having begun its journey to the Moon following a successful April 1 launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
They expected to discuss their observations with the lunar science team on Tuesday, April 7 and are scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego, California at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT) on Friday, April 10 (morning of April 11) in Manila.
Following splashdown, recovery teams will retrieve the crew members using helicopters and deliver them to the USS John P. Murtha.
Once aboard, the astronauts will undergo post-flight medical evaluations in the ship’s medical bay before traveling back to shore to meet with an aircraft bound for NASA Johnson.
Under the Artemis program, NASA said it will send Artemis astronauts on “increasingly challenging missions” to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.