NASA’s Artemis II mission has achieved a historic milestone as its crew approaches the farthest distance ever traveled by humans in space. The four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft are currently on a nearly 10-day journey that will take them to the Moon and beyond.

The mission crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, entered the Moon’s gravitational sphere and are set to reach a maximum distance of approximately 252,757 miles (406,000 kilometers) from Earth. This surpasses the previous record held by the Apollo 13 crew by more than 4,100 miles.

During the flyby, the spacecraft will pass over the Moon’s far side, placing astronauts about 4,000 miles above its surface. From this unique vantage point, they will observe Earth appearing as a distant, small object while the Moon blocks communication signals, causing brief blackouts with NASA’s Deep Space Network.

The mission is part of NASA’s broader Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028 and establish a long-term presence on the Moon as preparation for future missions to Mars.

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Astronauts are using the opportunity to capture high-resolution images of the Moon’s surface, including rare views of sunlight bending around its edges. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center are closely monitoring the mission and recording astronaut observations in real time.

This milestone marks a significant step in human deep-space exploration and reinforces NASA’s goal of expanding human presence beyond Earth’s orbit.