NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are heading back to Earth after completing a historic journey around the moon on Monday, marking the farthest space travel in human history.
The four-member crew entered low Earth orbit to the dark side of the moon and surpassed the distance record first set during the Apollo era.
Astronauts aboard the spacecraft surpassed the record set by Apollo 13 before beginning the seven-hour flyby, which included intensive lunar observations.
President Donald Trump said he had a phone call with the “great and brave” astronauts as they are headed back to Earth.
The mission is a major milestone for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface and eventually establish a sustained presence there as a stepping stone for future missions to Mars.
Launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft carried the astronauts on a roughly 10-day mission that tested critical systems needed for deep space travel. Unlike the Apollo missions, Artemis II did not land on the moon but instead performed a “free-return trajectory,” looping around the lunar side before beginning the journey back to Earth.
The flight marks the first time astronauts have been to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
A commander from Apollo 13, Jim Lovell, recorded a wake-up message before his death that the Artemis II crew listened to hear as they reached the milestone.
“Welcome to my old neighborhood,” Lovell said, who also flew on Apollo 8, humanity’s first lunar visit. “It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”
ARTEMIS II TAKES HUMANITY FARTHER FROM EARTH THAN EVER BEFORE ON JOURNEY TO MOON
As they passed behind the moon, they lost direct contact with Earth for around 40 minutes. They documented two new craters on the moon’s surface and proposed names for them: Integrity, their capsule’s name, and Carroll in honor of commander Reid Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.
The Orion capsule is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean in the coming days, where recovery teams will retrieve the spacecraft and crew, concluding a mission that is said to usher in a new chapter of human space exploration.
