#space mission

[thepastisalreadywritten]

3 April 2026

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3 April 2026

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3 April 2026

[thatforestprince]

i love this lady's reaction to the crew saying they saw meteor impact flashes on the moon

EDIT: Her name is Dr. Kelsey Young!

[scienceisdope]

How far ar they? As of Monday, April 6, 2026, the Artemis II crew has officially broken the record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth. 

The milestone was reached at approximately 1:57 p.m. ET as the Orion spacecraft, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, surpassed the long-standing record set by the Apollo 13 crew 56 years ago. 

The Numbers

The Artemis II mission is utilizing a "free-return trajectory" that takes them significantly deeper into space than the Apollo missions.

Apollo 13 reached distance of 248,655 miles (400,171 km) in 1970.

Artemis II reached distance of ~252,760 miles (406,770 km).

Why is this happening now?

While the Apollo 13 crew held the record for over five decades, they only achieved it because their aborted moon landing forced them into a wide loop around the far side of the moon to return home. 

The Artemis II crew is deliberately following a similar high-altitude flyby. At their peak distance—which occurred earlier today—they were roughly 4,100 miles (6,600 km) further from Earth than Jim Lovell and his crew were in 1970. 

A Quick Perspective

To put that distance in perspective, the astronauts are currently.

More than 1,000 times farther away than the International Space Station (ISS).

Far enough away that the Earth appears as a small, fragile "marble" in the blackness, and the Moon looks like a basketball held at arm's length. 

As Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed back shortly before hitting the mark: "It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye... I challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived."

Credit: Brave Artemis crew, NASA

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[noahkhn]

i wanted to take a moment before artemis ii's splashdown to commend the @nasa media/social media teams for a spectacular livestream coverage from beginning to end, there was never a dull moment! they could have given us a simple livestream inside and outside the cabin and it would have been fine, but they went above and beyond. there were pre-recorded interviews and segments, informative videos about the mission/astronauts/future, and live interviews with experts of different fields. the press conferences and debriefs were consistent and organized, with very little tech issues (as i type this the day 8 press conference connection got lost). mission control houston officers and scientists became stars for a week and i cannot wait to get to know them better when the documentary is released!

here's some other moments/contributions that made the week fun:

a zero grav indicator toy became a mission mascot

wake-up music, which i wait for each morning via stream or ig

the ig coverage in general, esp the soundbites

ig also posts mobile wallpapers of the lunar flyby

the daily menu updates (omg this is getting parasocial lol)

my personal favorite, the call between integrity and iss crew

the yt livestream structure, having separate feeds for the launch, splashdown, lunar flyby, debriefs, press conferences, etc

they even took a moment to make a full house parody haha

i mean, how amazing commander reid, christina, jeremy, and victor have been every single day, being camera and media ready every step of the way

i can see the years of planning, to make the 10-day mission the most global event to be broadcasted and the decisions they made along the way were precise and done with the upmost enthusiasm. what an unforgettable journey and i hope they know the world really appreciates what they've done for us down here. BRAVO

[sapocipo]

I am a nerd creature with nerdy interests, a tribute to my most recent designs: Apollo and Artemis, they are wearing their space suits xD

[icarusneverdied]

Opportunity’s last message from mars

[themissingmango]

Artemis II | Lunar Flyby 🌘✨