The Artemis II Astronauts Just Broke A Space Record

The crew of the Artemis II mission has crossed a threshold humanity had yet to touch: making it to the farthest point in space that any person has ever reached before.

At two minutes after 7 p.m. EDT Monday, the crew reached the mission’s maximum distance from Earth at 252,756 miles. That milestone came as the crew made their closest approach to the moon: about 4,067 miles above the surface.

While on the side of the moon that never faces Earth, the crew photographed and described terrain features including impact craters, ancient lava flows and surface cracks and ridges formed as the moon slowly evolved over time.

“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed.

Hansen and the three NASA astronauts, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, pilot and mission specialist Christina Koch, also witnessed a total solar eclipse as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective.

At 1:57 p.m. EDT, they passed the former record that stood for 56 years, set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell wished the crew well in a recording made two months before his death last August.

“Welcome to my old neighborhood,” said Lovell, who also flew on Apollo 8, humanity’s first lunar visit. “It’s a historic day and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”

The Artemis II astronauts carried up with them the Apollo 8 silk patch that accompanied Lovell to the moon. “It’s just a real honor to have that on board with us,” Wiseman said.

Artemis II’s lunar fly-around and intense observation period lasted seven hours, by far the highlight of the nearly 10-day test flight that will end with a splashdown in the Pacific on Friday.

The astronauts zipped through a list of more than two dozen targets, using powerful Nikon cameras as well as their iPhones to zoom in on impact craters and other intriguing lunar features.

Before getting started, they requested permission to name two bright, freshly carved craters. They suggested Integrity, the name of their capsule, and Carroll, commander Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.

Wiseman wept as Hansen put in the request to Mission Control, and all four astronauts embraced in tears.

“Such a majestic view out here,” Wiseman radioed once he regained his composure and started picture-taking. The astronauts called down that they managed to capture the moon and Earth in the same shot, and they provided a running commentary to scientists back in Houston on what they were seeing.

In the future, a Moon base — a goal NASA has established — could change everything, enabling consistent communication and the ability to explore more than ever before.

“NASA is committed to achieving the near‑impossible once again, to return to the Moon before the end of President Trump’s term, build a Moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. “If we concentrate NASA’s extraordinary resources on the objectives of the National Space Policy, clear away needless obstacles that impede progress, and unleash the workforce and industrial might of our nation and partners, then returning to the Moon and building a base will seem pale in comparison to what we will be capable of accomplishing in the years ahead.”

One element that makes the Moon so valuable is Helium-3. This gas, deposited onto the moon’s surface by solar wind over billions of years, exists only in trace amounts on Earth.

An abundance of this resource, if made available to Earth, could revolutionize our technology. It can provide a safer, non-radioactive fuel for nuclear energy and AI is also part of this equation.

Dilution refrigerators for quantum computing by one of the leading suppliers depend on Helium-3 to cool their systems, according to the Lowy Institute— more of this could exponentially change what Artificial Intelligence is capable of.