Astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission have begun their return journey to Earth after completing a historic lunar flyby that set a new record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled in space.
Gatekeepers News reports that the four-member crew including Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen reached a peak distance of about 252,756 miles (over 406,000 kilometres) from Earth, surpassing the previous record set during the Apollo 13 mission.
The mission, which launched on April 1, marks the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft under NASA’s Artemis programme and is seen as a major step toward returning humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
During the lunar flyby, the spacecraft passed behind the Moon, causing a temporary communication blackout that lasted about 40 minutes. Once contact was restored, the astronauts expressed relief and excitement, describing the experience as extraordinary and unlike anything seen before.
The crew also witnessed rare celestial events, including a total solar eclipse, and captured detailed images of the Moon’s far side regions not previously observed by humans in such detail.
Officials say the spacecraft is now on a free-return trajectory back to Earth, with splashdown expected in the Pacific Ocean later this week.
The successful mission is expected to pave the way for future Artemis missions, including planned human landings on the Moon.
