The crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission has now become the farthest humans ever from Earth, surpassing the distance record set more than fifty years ago.

At about 1:56 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) on April 6, 2026 (which is 4:57 a.m. AEDT on April 7, 2026), the Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen exceeded the previous record of 248,655 miles from Earth, a mark set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970 when its crew was forced into a free‑return trajectory around the Moon.

New record🥇

The Artemis II astronauts are now farther from Earth than humans have ever been! At 1:57 p.m. EDT, they broke the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

Their journey around the far side of the Moon today will take them a maximum distance of 252,752 miles from Earth. pic.twitter.com/P5Swojpn0n

— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) April 6, 2026

Artemis II is continuing its journey around the far side of the Moon on a planned lunar flyby and is expected to reach a maximum distance of around 252,760 miles (about 406,778 kilometres) from Earth later in the mission, extending the record by roughly 4,100 miles.

A new milestone for humankind: The crew of Artemis II are now the farthest any human has ever travelled, reaching a maximum distance of 252,752 miles from Earth.

This surpasses the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970 by about 4,102 miles. pic.twitter.com/DbLFvvdEfT

— NASA (@NASA) April 6, 2026

As they loop around the Moon the astronauts are observing lunar surface features and preparing for the remaining phases of the ten‑day mission, which represents the first crewed deep‑space flight in more than 50 years and a key step in returning humans to lunar exploration.

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