Overview
- NASA’s four-person crew became the farthest-traveled humans after surpassing Apollo 13’s mark on Monday during the swing past the Moon.
- Orion reached a planned peak distance of about 252,756 miles from Earth after skimming roughly 4,067 miles above the lunar far side.
- The flyby included a predictable blackout of communications for about 40 minutes while the Moon blocked radio links to the Deep Space Network.
- Astronauts captured the first human-taken images of the Orientale Basin and conducted structured observations of dozens of features on the far side.
- The mission follows a free-return path that uses lunar gravity to carry Orion back toward a targeted Pacific splashdown around Friday, providing data for upcoming Artemis landings.