The Artemis II mission is about to break a record that should never have been. This mission, which launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, is drawing comparisons to an early predecessor, Apollo 8. That flight, in December 1968, marked the first time humans circled the moon, a prelude to a lunar landing the following year. It produced the iconic 'Earthrise' photo, which showed our planet suspended above the moon's horizon and sparked a paradigm shift in how we view our place as a species.
Like Apollo 8, the four Artemis II astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen — have ventured into lunar space to test the viability of their spacecraft, dubbed Integrity, and set the stage for future moon landings. But as they round the far side of the moon and head towards home, a different Apollo-era mission will be on everyone's mind: Apollo 13.
Apollo 13 was the ill-fated flight that turned into a daring rescue and a narrowly averted disaster in April 1970. Along the way, NASA astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert traveled farther from Earth than humans have ever gone — an unplanned record that has persisted for 56 years, until now. Based on the latest figures from NASA, at 7:07 p.m. ET, the equations of celestial mechanics predict that Integrity will be about 406,778 kilometers from Earth, exceeding the Apollo 13 record by about 6,606 kilometers. This means Col. Hansen and his crewmates will have truly gone where no one has gone before.
The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission contacted Earth via video on April 2 to talk about their experience just after completing the translunar injection burn that is leading them towards the moon. At that moment, they will be in the home stretch of a 5½-hour campaign of intense lunar observations to get everything they can out of viewing a part of the moon that observers on Earth do not see.
The mission's lunar science lead, Kelsey Young, said the crew has a list of 35 targets to examine in detail, hoping to spot and describe subtle differences in hue and brightness that exceed what is already known from remote sensing by a robotic orbiter. The crew will also be using a battery of powerful cameras and will be in communication with scientists as they work to optimize their results.
Dr. Young said, 'We expect thousands of photos.' This mission is rekindling humanity's long love affair with the moon, just as Apollo 13's safe return stands as an enduring example of successful crisis management and ingenuity under pressure. All the same, the current generation of moon travelers spent their Sunday practicing for emergencies, including a depressurization of the crew capsule and the need to make repairs while in flight.
When the moon is the destination, the peril is real, and the training never ends. This record-breaking moment for Artemis II will be a more relaxed one, but the crew's preparation and the challenges they face are a testament to the enduring human spirit of exploration and the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
