NASA's Artemis II crew has transmitted unprecedented images of the moon's far side after completing a historic flyby that sent humans farther from Earth than ever before. The four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — reached a maximum distance of 406,771 kilometers from Earth during their seven-hour lunar passage on Monday.
The mission shattered the previous human distance record held by Apollo 13, with the crew documenting geological features that had never been observed directly by human eyes. Flying at an altitude of 6,545 kilometers above the lunar surface — significantly higher than Apollo missions — the astronauts captured detailed photographs of impact craters, ancient lava flows, and surface fractures across both familiar and unexplored lunar terrain.
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 choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.
Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist — Canadian Space Agency
Among the mission's most significant captures was the complete Orientale basin — a 965-kilometer-wide impact crater straddling the boundary between the moon's near and far sides. Scientists describe this formation as the lunar equivalent of the Grand Canyon, and the Artemis II crew became the first humans to observe the entire structure. The crew also witnessed a rare solar eclipse lasting nearly an hour, with Earth's reflected light illuminating the moon's surface during the event.
The astronauts experienced a planned 40-minute communications blackout while passing behind the moon, during which they continued photographing and recording observations. Mission specialist Victor Glover expressed particular fascination with the lunar terminator — the boundary between day and night — where dramatic shadows revealed surface details invisible under full illumination.