NASA / Getty Images via AFP
A photo taken on April 4, 2026 shows astronaut Christina Koch looking out one of the windows of the Orion spacecraft as the crew heads toward the Moon.
Head in the stars. This Monday, April 6, the four astronauts of Artemis II reached an unprecedented milestone by moving further from Earth than any other human before them. They then began to fly over the Moon for several hours, closely observing regions that were still little observed, including its hidden side.
The Artemis II crew, American astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, not only beat the record of 400,171 km reached by their Apollo 13 predecessors in 1970, but they should now go even further: 406,000 km from the Earth, during their circumnavigation of the Moon.
“As we surpass the greatest distance humanity has ever traveled from Earth, we do so by paying tribute to the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors.”declared by astronaut Jeremy Hansen live. “But above all, we are choosing this moment to challenge our generation and the next, to ensure that this record is short-lived.”.
In the entire history of space exploration, no Russian or Chinese has ventured beyond 400 km from Earth, the distance from stations in Earth orbit. Only probes have returned to observe the Moon.
Two craters of the Moon named in the evening
The crew took the opportunity to make a special request: name two craters on the Moon, one in honor of their ship, named « Integrity » (“Integrity”), and the other for Carroll Taylor Wiseman, the commander’s deceased wife. A request that made the crew burst into tears, who then hugged each other.
Although they will not land on the Moon, their flight remains historic because it is the first carried out by a woman, a black astronaut and a non-American, all the Apollo missions (1968-1972) having taken exclusively white American men.
Seven hours of close observation of the Moon
The close observation period of the Moon began around 6:45 p.m. GMT and will end around 1:20 a.m. GMT on Tuesday. During these nearly seven hours, the Moon will then appear to them as large as a basketball held at arm’s length.
“You can actually see the Moon and Earth at the same time.”told Christina Koch at the beginning, a seasoned explorer who entered the history books as the first woman to fly over the Moon. She noted that the Earth appeared to her “Much more brilliant” than the Moon.
All of them have trained for more than two years to recognize geological formations and describe them precisely to scientists here on earth, particularly the brown or beige hues of the soil.
Their oral descriptions as well as their notes and photographs should allow us to learn more about the geology and history of our natural satellite.
