The crew of the Artemis II mission on Monday broke the record for the farthest distance from Earth ever travelled by humans, surpassing the milestone achieved by Apollo 13 in April 1970, according to NASA.

The milestone was reached at about 1:56pm Eastern Time (1756 GMT), NASA said. The four crew members are NASA commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) mission specialist Jeremy Hansen. The mission was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in the US state of Florida on April 1.

The Apollo 13 crew set the previous record of 248,655 miles (about 400,171 kilometre) on April 15, 1970, while executing an emergency free-return trajectory around the Moon after an oxygen tank rupture aborted their planned lunar landing.

According to Eyewitness online newspaper, “A total solar eclipse greeted the three Americans and one Canadian as the moon temporarily blocked the sun from their perspective. Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn nodded at them from the black void. The landing sites of Apollo 12 and 14 also were visible, poignant reminders of NASA’s first age of exploration more than half a century ago.”

It reported that, in an especially riveting retro throwback, Artemis II shattered the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. NASA’s Orion capsule reached a maximum distance of 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometres) from Earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon, 4,101 miles (6,600 kilometres) farther than Apollo 13.

“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed. He challenged “this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”

Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell wished the crew well in a recording made two months before his death last August.

Mission Control beamed up his message to Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen, before their fly-around began.

“Welcome to my old neighbourhood,” said Lovell, who also flew on Apollo 8, humanity’s first lunar visit. “It’s a historic day and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”

The Artemis II astronauts carried up with them the Apollo 8 silk patch that accompanied Lovell to the moon. “It’s just a real honour to have that on board with us,” Wiseman said.

Artemis II is using the same manoeuvre that Apollo 13 did after its “Houston, we’ve had a problem” oxygen tank explosion wiped out any hope of a moon landing.

The Artemis II crew named their Orion spacecraft Integrity before the mission. The crew said the name reflects the values of trust, respect, candour and humility they consider essential for deep-space exploration. NASA has used Integrity as the spacecraft’s call sign throughout the mission.

During the lunar flyby, CSA astronaut Hansen informed mission controllers that the crew was proposing names for two unnamed craters on the Moon. The crew proposed naming the first crater Integrity after their spacecraft.

Hansen said the crater is located between the Moon’s Orientale basin and the Ohm impact crater on the lunar far side. The crew proposed naming the second crater Carroll, a location on the near-far side boundary of the Moon. Mission Control acknowledged both proposals.

NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, a veteran of Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13 who died on August 7 at the age of 97, recorded a message for the Artemis II crew before his death, which the crew heard during their wake-up call on Monday morning.

“Good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth,” Lovell said in the recording.

Artemis II is following a free-return trajectory similar to the one utilized by Apollo 13. Integrity is expected to reach its maximum distance of 252,760 miles from Earth at 7:07pm Eastern Time before beginning its return.

The mission does not include a lunar landing. Splashdown is scheduled for April 10 in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, California.

Known as a free-return lunar trajectory, this no-stopping-to-land route takes advantage of Earth and the moon’s gravity, reducing the need for fuel. It’s a celestial figure-eight that put the astronauts on course for home once they emerged from behind the moon Monday evening.

Artemis II’s lunar fly-around and intense observation period lasted seven hours, by far the highlight of the nearly 10-day test flight that will end with a splashdown in the Pacific on Friday.

Venturing as close as 4,067 miles (6,545 kilometres) to the grey dusty surface, the astronauts zipped through a list of more than two dozen targets, using powerful Nikon cameras as well as their iPhones to zoom in on impact craters and other intriguing lunar features.

Before getting started, they requested permission to name two bright, freshly carved craters. They suggested Integrity, the name of their capsule, and Carroll, Commander Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020.

Wiseman wept as Hansen put in the request to Mission Control, and all four astronauts embraced in tears.

“Such a majestic view out here,” Wiseman radioed once he regained his composure and started picture-taking. The astronauts called down that they managed to capture the moon and Earth in the same shot, and they provided a running commentary to scientists back in Houston on what they were seeing.

At one point, Koch reported an overwhelming sensation of emotion for a second or two while zooming in on the moon. “Something just drew me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real,” she said.

The Artemis II astronauts made their closest approach to the moon and reached their maximum distance from Earth while they were out of contact. Their speed at closest approach: 3,139 miles per hour (5,052 kilometres per hour). The spacecraft accelerated as it appeared from behind the moon and the planned communications blackout and made tracks for Earth. An Earthrise came into view showing Asia, Africa and Oceania as Mission Control called out: “We are Earthbound and ready to bring you home.”

Flight controllers in Houston flipped their mission patches over to signify the return leg. President Donald Trump phoned the astronauts following the flyby, calling them “modern-day pioneers.”

“Today you’ve made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud,” the president said, adding that more lunar travelling is coming and ultimately “the whole big trip to Mars.”

Wiseman and his crew spent years studying lunar geography to prepare for the big event, adding solar eclipses to their repertoire during the past few weeks.

By launching last Wednesday, they ensured themselves of a total solar eclipse from their vantage point behind the moon, courtesy of the cosmos.

Topping their science target list: Orientale Basin, a sprawling impact basin with three concentric rings, the outermost of which stretches nearly 600 miles (950 kilometres) across.

Their moon mentor, NASA geologist Kelsey Young, expects thousands of pictures.

Artemis II is NASA’s first astronaut moon-shot since Apollo 17 in 1972. It sets the stage for next year’s Artemis III, which will see another Orion crew practise docking with lunar landers in orbit around Earth. The culminating moon landing by two astronauts near the moon’s South Pole will follow on Artemis IV in 2028.

While Artemis II may be taking Apollo 13’s path, it’s most reminiscent of Apollo 8 and humanity’s first lunar visitors who orbited the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 and read from the Book of Genesis.

Glover said flying to the moon during Christianity’s Holy Week brought home for him “the beauty of creation.” Earth is an oasis amid “a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe” where humanity exists as one, he observed over the weekend.

“This is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and that we’ve got to get through this together,” Glover said, clasping hands with his crewmates.

• A Tell Media / Xinhua report