Artemis II Spacecraft Enters Lunar Sphere of Influence on Historic Mission

The Orion spacecraft carrying the four-person Artemis II crew entered the lunar sphere of influence on Monday, April 6, 2026, at 06:42 CEST, marking the start of the mission's decisive phase as the Moon's gravitational pull began to dominate over Earth's. The crew — NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — became the first humans to travel toward the Moon in more than 50 years. The mission launched on April 1, 2026, from Cape Canaveral in Florida aboard the Orion capsule atop the Space Launch System rocket. Approximately 24 hours after launch, the spacecraft left Earth's orbit through a targeted maneuver and set a direct course for the Moon. The ten-day mission is the first crewed lunar flight since Apollo 17 in 1972 and does not include a lunar landing.

Six-hour flyby to bring crew within 7,500 km of far side In the hours following the entry into the lunar sphere of influence, Orion was scheduled to complete its closest approach to the Moon — passing approximately 7,500 kilometers behind the far side — within a total flyby window of roughly six hours. From that vantage point, the crew will be able to see Earth and the Moon simultaneously. The mission follows a free-return trajectory, the same type used during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which harnesses the gravity of both celestial bodies and requires minimal fuel. During the flyby, the crew will also experience a total solar eclipse as the Moon passes directly between Orion and the Sun, briefly revealing the outer solar corona. The astronauts are working in teams of two and documenting observations with cameras, as well as personal smartphones for spontaneous shots.

Artemis II is the first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. It follows the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, which tested the Orion capsule and Space Launch System on a lunar flyby. The last time humans traveled to the Moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The Apollo 13 mission in 1970 set the current human distance record from Earth at approximately 400,171 kilometers after the crew was forced onto a free-return trajectory following an onboard oxygen tank explosion — an event widely described as a "successful failure."

New distance record expected to surpass Apollo 13 by over 6,600 km If the mission proceeds as planned, the Artemis II crew will set a new record for the farthest distance any human has traveled from Earth, surpassing the Apollo 13 record of approximately 400,171 kilometers by more than 6,600 kilometers. The milestone would make the four astronauts the farthest-traveling humans in history. Koch is the first woman to fly on a NASA lunar mission, Glover the first Black astronaut to travel beyond low Earth orbit, and Hansen the first non-American citizen to do so. For Glover, Koch, and Wiseman, Artemis II is their second spaceflight; for Hansen, it is his first. The mission is also collecting data intended to support future crewed lunar landings planned under the broader Artemis program.

Artemis II — Key Mission Events: — ; — ; — ; — ; —

Crew glimpsed lunar "Grand Canyon" no human had seen before Before reaching the lunar sphere of influence, the crew had already recorded a historic visual milestone on Sunday, observing the Mare Orientale basin on the Moon's far side — a crater region NASA described as the Moon's "Grand Canyon" — with the naked eye for the first time in human history. NASA stated that the Artemis II mission marked the first time the entire basin could be seen without optical instruments. Koch described the experience during a broadcast for children in Canada, saying the crew had seen the far side of the Moon for the first time and calling it "simply spectacular." „It is a very special crater region, and until today, no human had actually seen it. We had the privilege of seeing it.” — Christina Koch via newsORF.at NASA's acting deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, Lori Glaze, expressed confidence ahead of the flyby. „We are all incredibly excited for tomorrow. We are ready for the first lunar flyby in 50 years.” — Lori Glaze via Blick.ch