NASA’s Artemis II crew is now on the homeward leg after a historic lunar flyby, having traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history. The four astronauts aboard Orion broke the previous distance record as they rounded the moon’s far side and began the roughly quarter-million-mile return to Earth.
As Orion swung behind the moon on Monday, the spacecraft entered a roughly 40-minute communications blackout while the lunar body blocked signals to NASA’s Deep Space Network. Just before loss of contact, mission specialist Christina Koch radioed, “And to all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you, from the Moon.” Orion reached a closest approach of about 4,067 miles above the lunar surface during the blackout, and minutes later recorded its peak distance from Earth at 252,756 miles — about 4,111 miles farther than the Apollo 13 high point in 1970.
When contact resumed, Koch reflected on future work, saying the program will “explore, we will build, we will build ships. We will visit again,” and noted ambitions including science outposts, rovers, radio astronomy, commercial activity and inspiration that ultimately bind people back to Earth and to each other. Orion and its crew are bringing home new lunar observations and flight-test data to support follow-on missions, including potential crewed landings as early as 2028.
New observations from the far side
From their high vantage over the moon’s far side, the astronauts inspected roughly 35 sites of geological interest and took thousands of photographs. Flying at higher altitude than humans have before, the crew could see subtle color and texture differences that are often clearer to the human eye than to orbital sensors. Working in pairs, they narrated real-time descriptions to lunar scientists at Johnson Space Center, pointing out variations that will help refine understanding of lunar composition and assist planning for future robotic and crewed landings on the far side.
“The plateau is hard for me to see from this window, but that had green issues to me and was very unique,” mission specialist Jeremy Hansen told scientists, and he also noted many brownish-hued regions. Those human observations will be compared with remote-sensing data to sharpen maps and site assessments.
The trajectory also carried Orion through a solar eclipse as the moon moved between the spacecraft and the sun, giving the crew an opportunity to observe the solar corona ringed around the moon for about an hour. Pilot Victor Glover described the experience as “unreal.” The team will deliver additional scientific data and observational reports at in-flight briefings with mission officials.
A personal tribute
During the flyby the crew dedicated an unnamed crater to Carroll, the late wife of commander Reid Wiseman, who died in 2020. “We lost a loved one, her name was Carroll. It’s a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call that Carroll,” astronaut Jeremy Hansen said on behalf of the crew.
Returning to Earth and final tests
Artemis II is operating as a test flight for the Orion spacecraft. On the return leg the crew will continue evaluations, including deploying a radiation shield and practicing manual control maneuvers. The most critical event remains atmospheric reentry on Friday: Orion will slam back into Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 25,000 miles per hour and encounter peak heating near 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A robust heat shield will protect the capsule while a sequence of parachutes slows it to under about 20 miles per hour for a planned splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of San Diego. Airbags are designed to help ensure the capsule stays upright after splashdown. NASA and Department of Defense recovery teams will transfer the crew from the capsule to a recovery ship, concluding the mission of nearly 10 days from launch to return.
The data, images and test results returned by Artemis II will inform hardware and operational decisions for future Artemis missions as NASA and partners prepare the next steps in lunar exploration.