The crew of the crewed mission “Artemis-2” successfully completed a flyby of the Moon, setting a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans in space in history, and has begun its return to Earth. This was reported by NASA, the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The astronauts traveled nearly 407,000 km from Earth, breaking the record of 400,171 kilometers set by the crew of Apollo 13 56 years ago — in April 1970.
“The crew of the ‘Artemis-2’ mission has completed its lunar observation period and is now beginning the journey back home,” NASA stated.
When the astronauts were on the far side of the Moon, communication with them was lost for 40 minutes. During this time, they witnessed the transition from day to night — the sunset followed by the sunrise. The astronauts saw the Sun disappear behind the lunar horizon, writes Euronews.
After communication was restored, the crew shared their impressions, displaying strong emotions. Each of the four crew members took turns describing the lunar landscape unfolding before them.
“We were just immersed in fantasy. It looks unreal,” shared pilot Victor Glover.
“We are noticing things that I have never seen before in photographs, but that are very noticeable here: all these recent craters, they are so bright,” said astronaut Christina Koch.
Trump: “America is incredibly proud”
For more than six hours, the astronauts were engaged in observing and documenting the features of the lunar surface. This will allow for a better study of its details, which were previously known mainly from images taken by robotic devices.
Victor Glover described the “terminator” — the boundary between night and day on the Moon — in detail. “The terminator is just fantastic right now. From a lighting perspective, it is the most solid of all that I have seen,” he noted.
The mission participants also tested new spacesuits capable of providing up to six days of breathing in autonomous mode.
U.S. President Donald Trump contacted the Artemis mission crew on April 6 and congratulated them on their achievement, stating that the astronauts “made all of America proud.”
“You made history and made all of America truly proud of you, incredibly proud. We have had many reasons to be proud lately, but nothing compares to what you are doing, flying around the Moon for the first time in over half a century and breaking the absolute distance record from planet Earth,” Trump said during the communication with the spacecraft.
The “Orion” spacecraft launched on April 1 from Cape Canaveral in Florida. On board are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Their mission was to fly around Earth’s natural satellite. The crew is expected to return to Earth on April 10 with a splashdown in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
