Astronauts on Artemis II Mission Set Record for Farthest Distance from Earth

On April 15th, 1970, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert established a distance record of 248,655 miles when Apollo 13 orbited the Moon. Nearly five decades later, the crew of the Orion spacecraft is poised to surpass this mark by thousands of miles as it reaches a maximum distance of 252,757 miles from Earth during its lunar flyby today. NASA will broadcast live coverage of the mission at 1PM ET, allowing viewers to track the astronauts’ progress remotely. The expected new record for the farthest distance from Earth is set to occur at approximately 1:56PM ET, as the Orion spacecraft completes its six-hour transit around the Moon’s far side. The Artemis II crew will have completed a groundbreaking test of their spacecraft and mission capabilities, marking an important milestone in NASA’s efforts to return humans to the lunar surface.