Artemis 2 Reaches Farthest Distance from Earth

NASA announced on April 6 that the Orion spacecraft, tasked with a lunar orbit mission, has broken the record for the farthest human-made lunar orbiter. Around 7 PM that day, the spacecraft flew past the far side of the moon, reaching a distance of 406,771 kilometers from Earth, surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

Artemis 2 is the first manned lunar orbit mission in half a century, led by the United States with Japan’s participation. The Orion spacecraft launched on April 1 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four astronauts. After orbiting Earth, the spacecraft entered lunar orbit on April 2. On April 5, it reached a region where the moon’s gravitational pull is greater than Earth’s.

At 1:56 PM on April 6, the spacecraft surpassed the previous record of 406,171 kilometers set by Apollo 13. “We will continue to venture deeper into space,” said Jeremy Hansen, a member of the crew and a member of the Canadian Space Agency. “Hopefully this record won’t last long, and we hope that this generation and the next will continue to challenge it.”