Artemis II Crew Reaches Farther Into Space Than Any Human

Four astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission are venturing farther from Earth than any human has ever traveled, poised to break records as they swing around the moon's far side on Monday.

The crew of three Americans and one Canadian launched Wednesday and are now approaching the "lunar sphere of influence," where the moon's gravity will pull stronger on their spacecraft than Earth's. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and astronauts Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen represent the first humans bound for the moon in more than 50 years.

"The Earth is quite small, and the moon is definitely getting bigger," Glover reported after firing a key thruster to exit Earth's orbit. The team will pass within 4,000 miles of the lunar surface, far enough to see the complete, spherical moon including both polar regions.

The view is already spectacular. Koch told Canadian children during a live question session that the crew spotted the Orientale Basin, sometimes called the moon's "Grand Canyon." No human eyes had seen this distinctive bullseye crater until Sunday.

Not everything is running smoothly, though. The Orion capsule's toilet has been malfunctioning since liftoff, forcing astronauts to use backup urine collection bags. Engineers suspect ice is blocking a drainage line, and the crew has reported an unpleasant smell from the bathroom.

"Space toilets and bathrooms are something everybody can really understand. It's always a challenge," said Debbie Korth, deputy manager of NASA's Orion program. The space shuttle toilet also frequently broke down during missions.

Why This Inspires

Despite the bathroom blues, morale remains high. Wiseman told mission control about speaking with his daughters from space. "We're up here, we're so far away, and for a moment, I was reunited with my little family," he said. "It was just the greatest moment of my entire life."

The crew woke Sunday to pop star Chappell Roan's "Pink Pony Club" and started their day with scrambled eggs and coffee, ready for another historic milestone. They've trained for geology observations, memorizing the moon's "big 15" features to help them orient themselves while photographing ancient lava flows and impact craters.

When Apollo 13's astronauts circled the moon in 1970, they held the distance record at roughly 250,000 miles from Earth. The Artemis II crew will shatter that mark as they complete their six-hour flyby of the lunar far side, regions too dark or difficult for the 24 Apollo astronauts who came before.

This mission paves the way for NASA's ambitious plan to establish a permanent lunar base, with a landing near the moon's south pole planned for 2028.