Artemis II once again made history by carrying humans farther from Earth than ever before, surpassing the record of 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
The previous record was broken today (April 6) at 1:57 pm EDT (17:57 GMT) when Orion’s capsule Integrity began orbiting the far side of the moon. The mission will reach up to 252,760 miles (406,777 kilometers) from Earth during its six-hour lunar flight, breaking the previous human spaceflight record by about 4,100 miles (6,600 kilometers), NASA said.
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Shortly after breaking this record, the crew’s journey around the moon became even more impressive when they discovered a crater between the moon’s near and far sides. They called mission control and requested that the ship be named after Carol, the late wife of Artemis II’s commander, Reed Wiseman.
Mission expert Jeremy Hansen said there was a feature about “a really nice place” “just on the near side” of the moon’s far side border.
“So you’ll be able to see this from Earth at certain times when the moon passes around the Earth,” Hansen said, his voice shaking. “We lost a loved one. Her name was Carol. She was Reid’s spouse and Katie and Ellie’s mother.”
“It’s a bright spot on the moon. We’d like to call it Carol,” he concluded, as he and his crew hugged Wiseman.
The astronauts also saw another crater, which they asked to be named “Integrity” after the capsule.
“Integrity and Carroll Crater. Loud and clear,” the controller responded.
moon flight
The Orion spacecraft will travel at approximately 3,139 miles per hour (5,052 km per hour) as it passes around the moon.
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During the lunar flyby, the four Artemis II astronauts – Wiseman, Hansen, Christina Koch and Victor Glover – will photograph approximately 30 scientific targets on the moon’s surface. These include the giant Oriental Basin, an impact crater about 600 miles (1,000 km) wide that spans the moon’s near and far sides, and the Hertzsprung Basin, an ancient crater on the moon’s far side.
“I wish you guys could have been here and seen your smiles,” Artemis II commander and astronaut Reed Wiseman said today (April 6) during NASA’s livestream of the moon flyby.
According to a NASA livestream, the Artemis II mission will see the moon from a higher altitude than the Apollo mission, giving a different perspective of the moon’s surface. These observations are intended to provide scientists with fresh, close-up views of the moon’s geology from different angles during the flyby.
“We’re shocked by what we can see with the naked eye,” Glover said on a NASA livestream.
The flyby is expected to produce some of the most dramatic images of the mission. From the Orion spacecraft, the crew will observe “Earth-in,” as the Earth slides behind the Moon, and then observe “Earth-rise,” as the Earth reappears above the Moon’s horizon. The first “Earthrise” image was famously taken by the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
According to the Associated Press, the Artemis II astronauts woke up today to a recorded message from Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell shortly before his death in August 2025: “Welcome to my old neighborhood. It’s a historic day and I know how busy you are, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”
The mission schedule also allows astronauts to witness a solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun. Using eclipse glasses and special camera lenses, the crew will be able to observe and photograph the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, which peaks near the moon’s edge.
“We’re ready to deliver,” Koch said on a NASA livestream.
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