Artemis II mission surpasses Apollo 13’s historic record

Astronauts on the Artemis II mission orbited the Moon and set a new record for the longest human stay in space.

NASA reports this.

During the flight, the Orion spacecraft traveled approximately 400,000 kilometers from Earth, surpassing the previous record set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

After passing the far side of the Moon, the crew lost contact with the control center for 40 minutes due to radio shadow. Immediately after the restoration of contact, astronaut Christina Koch addressed Earth with a speech.

She emphasized that humanity will continue to explore space, develop technology, and build new capabilities, but at the same time, it will always choose Earth and each other.

The crew includes commander Reed Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

Orion has now begun its return trajectory to Earth.

The Artemis II mission was the first human flight to the Moon in 54 years and an important step in preparing for a future landing on its surface.

As a reminder,NASA has released new images of the Earth and the Moon taken by astronauts during the Artemis II mission.