The ongoing Artemis II Moon mission will break the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, NASA has confirmed. During a press briefing earlier on Friday, the Artemis II ascent director Judd Freiling revealed that the Orion spacecraft with four astronauts onboard will travel as far as 4,06,171 km from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13 by over 6,500 km.
Apollo 13, which launched on April 11, currently holds the record of 4,00,171 km travelled by humans from Earth. That mission was a story of survival and human ingenuity, that saved the crew of three – Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert – from disaster.
“Suddenly, we’re up there with them.”
We’re sharing the Artemis II crew’s first images from space—keep following our 24/7 live feed for the latest mission updates: https://t.co/BezILihoZc pic.twitter.com/OwgYsWnngp
— NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2026
Apollo 13 ran into grave danger after the oxygen tank of the service module exploded 56 hours into the flight. This forced the crew to circle the Moon and return to Earth without landing.
NASA’s Artemis II set to break records
NASA was able to confirm Artemis II’s impending record-breaking event after calculations post the Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) completed yesterday. During the TLI, the Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for almost six minutes to leave Earth’s orbit and set course toward the Moon. It has also enabled Orion to loop around the Moon’s far side in a few days and return to Earth on a free-return trajectory.
The European Space Agency (ESA), which built the Orion spacecraft’s Service Module, said that the TLI was so precise that the first of three outbound trajectory correction burns is no longer required.
NASA said on Saturday that the crew is half-way to the Moon and will conduct a flyby over the lunar surface from a distance of a few thousand kilometres. “When the astronauts arrive, they will conduct a lunar flyby and collect scientific observations of the Moon’s surface,” the agency said in an update.
Artemis II consists of American astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), and Christina Koch (mission specialist) along with Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist).
It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled this far from Earth. Several records have already been set like Koch becoming the first woman and Glover the first person of colour on a Moon mission. It’s also the first time that Orion is flying with humans onboard to complete the primary objective of testing life support systems and other elements for future Moon landing missions.
ALSO READ: NASA Artemis II: Why This Moon Mission Is Our Generation’s Apollo 8
ALSO READ: Cakes, Smoothies, Tortillas: NASA’s Delightful Space Menu Designed For Artemis II Astronauts
