On Monday, April 6, 2026, on the sixth day of the Artemis II mission, the Orion spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin and designated CM-003 Integrity, carrying four astronauts, completed a historic seven-hour journey around the Moon (Artemis II crewed mission launches toward the Moon).
Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen (far left) and NASA astronauts Christina Koch (center left), Reid Wiseman (center right), and Victor Glover (right) took part in a live conversation with U.S. President Donald J. Trump after their historic flyby around the Moon on the sixth day of the mission / Photo: NASA
Before the event, the Artemis II crew was given the opportunity to name two previously unnamed craters on the Moon. They chose the names Integrity, in honor of the spacecraft, and Carroll, in honor of Carroll Taylor Wiseman, the wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman, who died on May 17, 2020, at the age of 46 after a five-year battle with cancer.
The flyby marked humanity’s first return to the vicinity of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and included taking photographs of the far side of Earth’s natural satellite.
After completing their lunar observations, the Artemis II crew received congratulations from U.S. President Donald J. Trump during a live conversation broadcast as part of NASA’s continuous mission coverage. They also spoke with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and answered questions from social media.
The landmark day began at 1:56 p.m. Eastern Time, when NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, set a record for the greatest distance from Earth ever traveled by humans, surpassing the 400,171-kilometer (248,655-mile) distance set by Apollo 13.
During a planned 40-minute loss of communications with Earth, between 6:44 p.m. and 7:25 p.m. EDT, as Orion passed behind the Moon, the spacecraft and its crew made their closest approach at 7:00 p.m. EDT, flying about 6,545 kilometers (4,067 miles) above the lunar surface. Two minutes later, the crew reached the mission’s maximum distance from Earth of 406,771 kilometers (252,756 miles), setting a new human spaceflight record.
While flying over the side of the Moon not visible from Earth, the crew photographed and described terrain features, including impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface fractures and ridges formed as the Moon slowly evolved over time. They also noted differences in color, brightness, and texture, providing clues that could help scientists better understand the composition and history of the lunar surface. The crew witnessed “Earthset” – when Earth dropped below the lunar horizon – as Orion traveled behind the Moon, and “Earthrise” as the spacecraft emerged from the Moon’s opposite edge.
After completing their lunar observations, the crew witnessed a nearly hour-long solar eclipse as the spacecraft, the Moon, and the Sun aligned. With the Moon mostly darkened, the crew examined the solar corona – the Sun’s outermost atmosphere – which appeared around the Moon’s edge.
During the eclipse, the crew had an opportunity to observe several rarely seen phenomena visible only on the far side of the Moon. They reported six flashes of light caused by meteoroids striking the lunar surface while traveling at speeds of many thousands of kilometers per hour.
As NASA emphasized, scientists are already eagerly awaiting these photographs, along with many others taken during the flyby. After the lunar data are transmitted overnight from the spacecraft, scientists will examine the images, audio, and other data to determine more precise times and locations of the flashes and seek input from amateur observers who were watching the Moon at the same time. The crew will discuss their observations with a team of lunar scientists on Tuesday, April 7, during a conversation to be broadcast on NASA’s live coverage.
The Artemis II crew has now begun its return to Earth.
AKTUALIZACJA
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