Four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission crossed into the Moon’s gravitational pull early Monday morning, continuing a historic journey that is set to take them over the Moon’s dark far side and farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled.
The crew, traveling inside NASA’s Orion capsule since launching from Florida last week, is scheduled to wake up at around 10:50 a.m. ET on their sixth day in space. By 7:05 p.m., they are expected to reach their farthest point from Earth at approximately 252,757 miles, surpassing the long-standing record set by the Apollo 13 crew by more than 4,000 miles.
As NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, approach this milestone, they will circle the Moon’s far side at an altitude of about 4,000 miles. From this distant vantage point, they will witness a striking view of the Moon’s shadowed surface while Earth appears small and distant behind it.
This moment marks a major highlight in the nearly 10-day Artemis II mission, which is the first crewed test flight of NASA’s Artemis program. The program aims to land astronauts on the Moon again by 2028, ahead of China, and to build a sustained human presence there. NASA envisions the Moon as a stepping stone for future missions to Mars, with plans to develop a long-term lunar base over the next decade.
The lunar flyby, beginning at 2:34 p.m. ET, will temporarily cut off communication as the Moon blocks signals between the spacecraft and NASA’s Deep Space Network. This global system of large antennas normally keeps the crew connected with mission control, but during this phase, the astronauts will experience brief periods of radio silence.
Over the course of the six-hour flyby, the crew will capture high-resolution images through Orion’s windows, documenting the Moon’s surface in unique lighting conditions. Sunlight will trace along the Moon’s edges, creating a dramatic visual similar to a lunar eclipse. These images are expected to provide valuable scientific insights.
The astronauts will also have the rare opportunity to photograph Earth rising above the lunar horizon as they reemerge from behind the Moon. From such an extreme distance, their home planet will appear small, offering a powerful and unusual perspective that few humans have ever seen.
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Meanwhile, a team of lunar scientists gathered at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will closely monitor the mission. As the astronauts describe what they see in real time, researchers will record observations and analyze details that could support future exploration efforts.
