After traveling farther into space than any other humans, the Artemis II crew on Monday pointed their moonship toward home, wrapping up a lunar cruise that included unprecedented views of the moon’s far side, according to NASA coverage carried by the Associated Press.
The mission’s flyby—NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo era—blended celestial viewing with science aimed at future exploration. As the spacecraft moved around the moon, the eclipse of the sun from the crew’s perspective offered a rare visual sequence, alongside the sightlines to multiple planets and to landing sites from Apollo 12 and Apollo 14.
The astronauts also used the moment to push a key technical milestone: Artemis II shattered the distance record that Apollo 13 set in 1970. NASA reported that its Orion capsule reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) from Earth before executing a U-turn behind the moon, 4,101 miles (6,600 kilometers) farther than Apollo 13.
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the perspective from the moon “is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” and he told NASA the achievement should be used to “make sure this record is not long-lived.” The crew also received a retro message from Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, whose recorded wishes—sent two months before he died last August—were played through Mission Control before the Artemis II fly-around began.
Lovell’s message to commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen included, “Welcome to my old neighborhood,” adding: “It’s a historic day and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.” In another nod to Apollo heritage, Wiseman said the astronauts launched with an Apollo 8 silk patch that accompanied Lovell to the moon: “It’s just a real honor to have that on board with us.”
NASA said Artemis II used the same general maneuver that Apollo 13 used after an oxygen tank explosion wiped out the hope of a landing. That approach is known as a free-return lunar trajectory, built around the Earth and moon’s gravity to reduce fuel needs; once the spacecraft emerged from behind the moon Monday evening, the planned loop put the crew on course for home without any scheduled landing operations during the flyby.
During the fly-around, which included a blackout window for communications, the astronauts spent seven hours on an intensive observation period. They ventured as close as 4,067 miles (6,545 kilometers) to the moon’s gray, dusty surface and moved through a list of more than two dozen targets, using Nikon cameras and their iPhones to zoom in on impact craters and other lunar features.
Before beginning that target list, the crew asked Mission Control for permission to name two bright, freshly carved craters. They proposed “Integrity,” reflecting the capsule’s name, and “Carroll,” for Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020; Wiseman later wept as Hansen put in the request, and all four astronauts embraced in tears.
Once the crew regained composure during observations, Wiseman radioed that they had a “Such a majestic view out here,” and Mission Control and the astronauts exchanged updates as they photographed both the moon and Earth in the same image. Koch also described a brief emotional reaction while zooming in on the lunar landscape, telling Mission Control: “Something just drew me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real,” and the crew relayed what they were seeing to scientists back in Houston.
NASA said the spacecraft reached its maximum distance and closest approach while it was out of contact, at a speed of 3,139 mph (5,052 kph). As the spacecraft accelerated from behind the moon and then moved into the return phase, an Earthrise came into view and Mission Control told the crew, “We are Earthbound and ready to bring you home,” with flight controllers flipping mission patches to signify the return leg.
The Associated Press report also said President Donald Trump phoned the astronauts following the flyby, calling them “modern-day pioneers” and telling them: “Today you’ve made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud,” adding that more lunar travel is coming and ultimately “the whole big trip to Mars.” NASA said the crew had spent years studying lunar geography for the mission and added solar eclipses to their planning in the weeks before launch to ensure they would have a total solar eclipse from their vantage point behind the moon.
Among the science targets, NASA highlighted the Orientale Basin, an impact basin with three concentric rings, with the outermost ring stretching nearly 600 miles (950 kilometers) across. The mission’s overall test flight is expected to end with a splashdown in the Pacific on Friday, NASA said, and Artemis II is set up to support next year’s Artemis III, when another Orion crew will practice docking with lunar landers in orbit around Earth, with a landing near the moon’s south pole targeted for Artemis IV in 2028.