“But we, most importantly, chose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived,” Artemis II team member Jeremy Hansen said.
NASA’s Artemis II team has officially set the record of being the farthest humans from Earth. This came on Monday afternoon at around 2 pm, with the team surpassing the record set by Apollo 13 in 1970, at 248,655 miles from Earth.
"On April 15, 1970, during the Apollo 13 mission, three explorers set the record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from our home planet. At that time, over 55 years ago, [Jim] Lovell, [Jack] Swigert, and [Fred] Haise flew 248,655 statute miles away from Earth. Today, for all humanity, you’re pushing beyond that frontier," Mission Control told the Artemis team as it reached the milestone.
Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen replied, "From the cabin of Integrity here, as we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration. We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear. But we, most importantly, chose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived."
The crew is scheduled to begin its lunar flyby at around 2:45 pm on Monday, with the crew being set to temporarily lose communications with Earth at around 6:45 as the Orion spacecraft passes behind the far side of the Moon. Just after 7 pm, the crew will reach its furthest distance from Earth, at 252,706 miles.
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