MONDAY, April 6, 2026, marked a major historic milestone for NASA as the Orion spacecraft of the Artemis II mission travelled 406,773 kilometers (252,760 miles) from Earth.
This breaks Apollo 13’s record by over 6,600 kilometers.
Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen are performing scientific tests on the Orion spacecraft such as conducting lunar and health observations and rehearsing essential steps to determine the readiness of the spacecraft for upcoming missions.
Launched from Kennedy Space Center, the crew is scheduled to return on April 10 via splashdown near San Diego.
Artemis II is historically the first crewed flight involved in NASA’s multi-mission plan to prepare for future Mars explorations and develop a sustainable lunar presence. (Tasha Zosa Anton, UP Cebu Intern)