The Farthest Humans Have Ever Been From Earth: Artemis II Makes History Today

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

Today is the main event of their ten-day trip, where they are looping around the moon to the far side and back toward Earth shortly after.

At 1:57 p.m. EST, they passed the former record that stood for 56 years, set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Until they reach their farthest point later tonight, they'll continue to set a record that goes farther and farther each minute they continue drifting into space.

At 2:10 p.m., the crew of four made their remarks to all of humanity.

This team is comprised of three NASA astronauts — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, pilot and mission specialist Christina Koch — and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut — mission specialist Jeremy Hansen.

At 2:45 p.m., they’ll enter seven hours of “lunar observation” (live coverage by NASA can be found on a variety of streaming platforms). Their capsule, named Orion, will be close enough to the Moon to observe the surface, detailing geological features they can see from the window.

As they continue the flyby, the crew will move into one of the most dramatic moments of the mission: total darkness on the Moon’s far side.

Throughout their journey, the team has been in constant contact with mission control in Houston, Texas. But today, as the astronauts pass behind the Moon, it will block the signals that allow communication between them and those on Earth.

Then comes a visual that few people in history have witnessed. As the spacecraft emerges from behind the Moon, the astronauts are expected to see our planet slowly appearing above the lunar horizon, also known as Earthrise.

Later this evening, around 7:07 p.m., they’ll hit their maximum distance from Earth, about 252,760 miles. That pushes them more than 4,000 miles beyond the Apollo 13 crew, extending their record even further.

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.

Now, all of this sounds extremely futuristic, and it is. But today, the crew of the Artemis II is bringing all of humanity one more step into that future.

Today, history could be made. And there remains a shared experience that defies any geopolitical space race: All people of Earth can look up to the sky and see the same moon, although much farther away, that the crew of Artemis II will.