Artemis II Astronauts Fly Around Moon—and Farther Than Any Human

Crew begins a seven-hour lunar observation as NASA returns to the moon’s neighborhood for the first time in decades.

Jack Daleo

Monday, April 06, 2026 at 02:21 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

The Artemis II astronauts captured this fully illuminated view of the moon’s near side as they approached lunar orbit on Monday. [Credit: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

The Artemis II mission crew, consisting of three Americans and one Canadian, has set a new record by traveling farther from Earth than any human before, surpassing the Apollo 13 distance record.
The astronauts are currently conducting a detailed flyby of the moon, observing and photographing its surface, including previously unseen parts of the lunar farside.
This 10-day mission serves as a critical test flight for future crewed lunar landings, involving manual piloting demonstrations, spacecraft system checks, and various scientific observations.
Data collected from Artemis II will inform and prepare for subsequent ambitious missions, including Artemis III and IV, which aim to land humans on the moon and eventually establish a permanent lunar base.

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Three Americans and one Canadian on Monday traveled farther from Earth than any human has ever ventured.

NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen—the crew of the Artemis II mission—have entered lunar orbit and are now the only people to have traveled more than 248,655 miles from Earth, a mark set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970.