Chicago – April 07, 2026
NASA’s Artemis II mission has broken the record for the farthest human travel from Earth.
The four astronauts on board the Orion spacecraft surpassed the previous record of 400,171km (248,655 miles) on Monday at 15:58 GMT. The record was set by Apollo 13 in April 1970.
The mission, which is travelling around the far side of the moon, is due to reach its maximum distance of roughly 406,788km (252,760 miles) from Earth at 23:07 GMT.
The mission will journey around the moon in a flyby, during which the crew will spend more than six hours analysing and documenting lunar surface features. The Orion capsule will then head back to Earth in a “free-return trajectory”, a return trip that will take about four days.
