Monday, April 6, 2026, marks one of the most significant days for human spaceflight in more than 50 years. At 13:56 EDT (17:56 GMT), the Artemis II mission is expected to break the record for the farthest distance humans have travelled from Earth, originally set by Apollo 13 at 400,171km (248,655 miles), according to Al Jazeera.

Artemis II’s Lunar Flyby Sets New Distance Record

The crew is expected to eventually reach a maximum distance of 406,773 km (252,760 miles) from Earth at 19:07 EDT (23:07 GMT) as they perform a lunar flyby aboard the Orion spacecraft. This means Artemis II will travel about 6,602km (4,105 miles) further into space than any human in history, according to Al Jazeera.

Understanding NASA’s Artemis Programme

The Artemis programme is NASA’s multi-decade mission to return men and women to the moon for the first time since 1972, establish a long-term base there and eventually enable future missions to Mars by crews, according to Al Jazeera.

Artemis I was the inaugural uncrewed test flight, which launched on November 16, 2022, and lasted 25 days. The programme is currently divided into five missions: Artemis I, II, III, IV and V. It successfully placed the Orion spacecraft into Earth’s orbit and provided key data for Artemis II, according to Al Jazeera.

Artemis II Mission Details and Crew

Artemis II is the first human mission of the Artemis programme. On April 1 at 18:35 EDT (22:35 GMT), the mission lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, carrying four astronauts for the 10-day mission, according to Al Jazeera.

The four astronauts onboard are: Reid Wiseman, 50, commander; Victor Glover, 49, pilot; Christina Koch, 47, mission specialist; and Jeremy Hansen, 50, mission specialist. Reid Wiseman is a NASA veteran and former International Space Station commander, leading the Artemis II mission. Victor Glover is the first Black astronaut assigned to a lunar mission and flew on SpaceX Crew-1. Christina Koch is the record holder for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 328 days. Jeremy Hansen is the first Canadian set to travel to the moon, representing international collaboration in deep space exploration, according to Al Jazeera.

The Artemis II astronauts will verify that the spacecraft and its life-support systems are ready for deep-space missions by manually flying at times, overseeing automated systems and testing key functions such as propulsion, power, thermal control, navigation and proximity operations, according to Al Jazeera.

They will also conduct scientific investigations on lunar observations and human health in space, while rehearsing critical steps such as course changes, long-distance communications and managing re-entry and splashdown to demonstrate Orion’s readiness for future missions, according to Al Jazeera.

On April 2, Commander Reid Wiseman captured a photo of Earth from Orion, which has been dubbed ‘Hello, World’. Because the spacecraft is rotated about 180 degrees from the usual ‘north-up’ orientation, Earth appears upside down, according to Al Jazeera.

The photograph captures the Northern and Southern Aurora Lights with their vivid green lights, the night lights from various cities across Africa, Europe and South America, and a faint patch of zodiacal light as the Earth eclipses the sun, according to Al Jazeera.

NASA says the Artemis II crew will eat from a fixed menu of 189 shelf-stable items, including drinks, tortillas, nuts, main dishes such as beef brisket and macaroni and cheese, as well as desserts such as cookies and chocolate, designed to meet nutritional and hydration needs on a no-resupply lunar mission, according to Al Jazeera.

Because Orion has no fridge or late-load capability, only ready-to-eat or rehydratable foods can fly, which the crew will rehydrate with a water dispenser, warm in a small heater, and keep crumb-free for safety in microgravity, according to Al Jazeera.

NASA’s Artemis II mission is planned to land in the Pacific ocean near San Diego at about 20:07 EDT on Friday, April 10 (0:00 GMT, Saturday, April 11). After splashdown, helicopters will pick up the crew to get medical checkups aboard the USS John P Murtha. Then they’ll step ashore and board a plane to NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, according to Al Jazeera.

The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 384,400km (238,855 miles), similar to circling Earth’s equator nearly 10 times. Earth is approximately 3.7 times the width of the moon. To put that in perspective, if the Earth were a basketball, the moon would be the size of a tennis ball, according to Al Jazeera.

The moon’s surface temperature fluctuates drastically from night to day, ranging from -173C (-180F) at night to 127C (260F) during the day. Because of its lower mass, the moon’s surface gravity is about one-sixth that of Earth (16-17 percent), so a person with a mass of 60kg (132lbs) would weigh about the same as a 10kg (22lbs) mass on Earth, according to Al Jazeera.

Between 1961 and 1972, NASA ran the Apollo moon programme. Its 33 missions included 11 crewed and 22 uncrewed. The most notable was Apollo 11, which carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who became the first men to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969, according to Al Jazeera.

Six successful moon landings followed: Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. The last people to walk on the lunar surface were Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, with their third and final moonwalk on December 14, 1972, as part of the Apollo 17 mission, according to Al Jazeera.

In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon. The name symbolises the programme’s connection to the original Apollo lunar missions, according to Al Jazeera.

Some other notable missions from other countries include: Luna 9 (USSR, 1966): The first spacecraft to soft-land and send images from the moon, highlighting the USSR’s early lead and growing competition with the US. Chang’e 4 (China, 2019): The first soft landing and rover on the moon’s far side tested relay links, precision landing and rover operations. Chandrayaan-3 (India, 2023): The first successful soft landing near the moon’s south polar region, making India the first to reach it, according to Al Jazeera.

The south pole contains deep craters that have not seen sunlight for billions of years. Temperatures there can drop to -230C (-382F), allowing water ice to remain stable, according to Al Jazeera.

Twelve US astronauts have walked on the moon, all during NASA’s Apollo programme (1969–1972), according to Al Jazeera.

NASA plans to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon, particularly near the lunar south pole, where water in the form of ice is believed to be. This is seen as a stepping stone towards future human missions to Mars, according to Al Jazeera.

Artemis III – 2027. NASA recently overhauled the mission profile of Artemis III. The mission, scheduled for next year, will no longer land on the moon but rather send a crew into low Earth orbit, according to Al Jazeera.