The crew of the Artemis II made history on Monday, April 6 after they broke the record for the greatest distance any humans have ever traveled from Earth. (The previous record, set by the Apollo 13 mission in April 1970, was 248,655 statute miles.) After they reached that milestone, the four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, then accomplished another first yet giant leap for humankind: They completely circled the Earth’s moon, making it the first time that human eyes have ever seen the dark side of the moon. Each crew member took turns taking pictures and describing what they were seeing during their fly by. In transmissions they sent back to ground control in Houston, they described what they saw as “unreal” and “absolutely unbelievable.”
NASA’s Artemis II — the first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century — made history on its trip around the moon on Monday afternoon.
The four-member crew — NASA commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian space agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen — surpassed the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by humans, set by Apollo 13 in 1970 at 248,655 statute miles.
“We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear,” Hansen told mission control. “But we, most importantly, choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”
The crew also proposed naming one of the moon’s previously unnamed craters in honor of Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll Wiseman.
“It’s a bright spot on the moon, and we would like to call that Carroll,” Hansen said,
During their seven-hour lunar flyby, the Artemis II astronauts took photos and made observations from the Orion spacecraft, dubbed Integrity, which lost contact with mission control for about 40 minutes as it passed behind the moon. The crew members became part of that elite group of humans who have ever witnessed an “Earthrise” as they cleared the far side of the moon.
The Orion is now officially on its way back to Earth. The 10-day mission is due to conclude on Friday, when Artemis II makes its reentry before a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
To borrow a quote from my new favorite book and movie, Project Hail Mary, “Amaze, amaze, amaze!” I’ve been following Artemis II’s journey since it launched and have obsessively refreshed NASA’s social media accounts all week. I was enthralled watching Monday’s Moonday’s livestream and every milestone made me so happy and emotional! I teared up when they asked to name the moon’s bright spot after Cap. Weisman’s late wife and then the sound cut out as they all hugged him. Listening to a voice memo that the late Jim Lovell, who served as Apollo 13’s captain, recorded for them in June 2025, just two months before passing, was also a heavy moment. I know that things are really sh-tty on Earth right now, but Artemis II’s mission gave me a rare thrill of hope in our weary world. I also got choked up at Victor Glover’s final words right before they lost signal when reaching the moon’s dark side: ”To all of you down there on Earth…we love you from the moon.”
We see our home planet as a whole, lit up in spectacular blues and browns. A green aurora even lights up the atmosphere. That's us, together, watching as our astronauts make their journey to the Moon. pic.twitter.com/6JkKufBgtJ
— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2026
photos credit: Best Image/Backgrid, Atlas Photo Archive/NASA/Avalon
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