The Artemis II mission is set to achieve a historic lunar flyby today. According to the Canadian Space Agency, astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his three American counterparts are poised to break the record for the farthest distance traveled in space, surpassing the milestone set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
NASA reveals that during today’s lunar flyby by the Orion spacecraft, the estimated maximum distance from Earth will exceed 406,000 kilometers, surpassing Apollo 13’s record of 400,171 kilometers. As Orion passes behind the moon, a 40-minute communications blackout will occur due to the lunar surface blocking radio signals.
Afterward, the spacecraft will approach as close as approximately 6,500 kilometers to the moon’s surface. From this proximity, Hansen describes that the moon will appear similar in size to a basketball held at arm’s length. The crew is expected to spend over five hours observing and capturing images of lunar features like impact craters and ancient lava flows.
Commander Reid Wiseman, along with pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen, will skim as close as 6,550 kilometers to the moon before heading back towards Earth. The return journey will take four days, culminating in a splashdown near San Diego in the Pacific Ocean, nine days after the mission’s launch from Florida.
The crew, after years of studying lunar geography and recent solar eclipse observations, will conduct real-time lunar observations using their geological training to analyze surface textures, shapes, and colors. This data will be crucial for future moon explorations.
The flyby will provide views of the moon’s far side that were previously unseen by the Apollo astronauts. Notable sights will include the Orientale basin, Apollo landing sites, and distant planets visible from the spacecraft. NASA geologist Kelsey Young anticipates a plethora of images from the mission.
Following the lunar flyby, Orion will depart the moon’s sphere of influence and head back to Earth. Similar to Apollo 13’s trajectory, Artemis II’s astronauts will navigate a figure-eight path, neither orbiting nor landing on the moon.
