Artemis II crew sets record for the farthest human spaceflight

The Artemis II crew has travelled farther from Earth than anyone in history. The Orion spacecraft reached about 406,800 kilometres from the planet, 6,600 kilometres beyond the record set by the Apollo 13 crew 56 years ago.

Before that, the astronauts entered the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence and flew over its far side, where communication with Earth is temporarily interrupted.

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen took photographs and video of the lunar surface and made observations that will help prepare future landings.

The spacecraft is now heading back to Earth. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is planned at the end of the roughly ten-day mission.