Key takeaways
- Orion flew 4,070 miles above the Moon's surface at 7:02 p.m. EDT on 6 April 2026 (00:02 BST on 7 April), the closest approach of humans to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
- The crew broke Apollo 13's distance record at 1:56 p.m. EDT, reaching a maximum 252,757 miles from Earth, the farthest any human has ever travelled.
- During the flyby, the crew witnessed Earthrise over the Moon's horizon, photographed 30 science targets including the Orientale Basin, and went through a 40-minute communications blackout behind the far side.
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6 April 2026 was the day the mission was built for.
Five days earlier, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, had launched from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Orion spacecraft. On 6 April, Flight Day 6, they flew past the Moon.
At 7:02 p.m. EDT on 6 April (00:02 BST on 7 April), Orion passed just 4,070 miles above the lunar surface, the closest any human has been to the Moon since the crew of Apollo 17 walked on it in December 1972. In the hours surrounding that moment, the crew broke the all-time record for the farthest distance any human has travelled from Earth, witnessed Earthrise over the Moon's far side, photographed ancient impact craters, and disappeared behind the Moon for 40 minutes of radio silence.
Here is the schedule for the day and how it was covered.
The Full Timeline, 6 April
All times are in EDT with BST (add 5 hours) in brackets. The flyby window ran from 2:45 p.m. to 9:40 p.m. EDT (7:45 p.m. to 2:40 a.m. BST).
12:41 a.m. EDT (5:41 a.m. BST): Orion entered the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence. The Moon's gravity was now the dominant force on the spacecraft.
1:30 p.m. EDT (6:30 p.m. BST): The science officer in Mission Control briefed the crew on their 30 observation targets for the flyby.
1:56 p.m. EDT (6:56 p.m. BST): The crew surpassed Apollo 13's distance record of 248,655 miles from Earth, the farthest humans had travelled from our planet, set in April 1970.
2:45 p.m. EDT (7:45 p.m. BST): The flyby observation window opened. Orion was now close enough to the Moon for the crew to make scientific observations through the spacecraft's windows.
6:45 p.m. EDT (11:45 p.m. BST): Earthset. Earth disappeared behind the Moon from Orion's perspective as the spacecraft swung behind the far side.
7:02 p.m. EDT (midnight BST): Closest approach. Orion passed 4,070 miles above the lunar surface, closer than the distance from London to New York.
7:07 p.m. EDT (12:07 a.m. BST): Maximum distance from Earth: 252,757 miles. This was the new all-time record for the farthest any human has travelled from home.
7:25 p.m. EDT (12:25 a.m. BST): Earthrise. Earth came back into view on the opposite edge of the Moon. The crew attempted to recreate Apollo 8's iconic Earthrise photograph, the image that changed how humanity sees its own planet.
~7:00–7:40 p.m. EDT: Communications blackout: approximately 40 minutes of radio silence while the Moon blocked signals between Orion and the Deep Space Network.
9:40 p.m. EDT (2:40 a.m. BST): The flyby observation window closed.
The Flyby Window
The flyby was not an instantaneous event, it was a seven-hour window during which the crew was close enough to the Moon for detailed observations. During this time, Orion's windows were pointed toward the lunar surface, and the crew worked through a carefully choreographed sequence of photography and visual observations.
The crew spent 5 April, Flight Day 5, performing final preparations. They demonstrated the Orion Crew Survival System suits (testing mobility, leak checks, and the ability to eat and drink while wearing them), completed an outbound trajectory correction burn, and received their final briefing on the 30 science targets assigned for the flyby.
Breaking the Apollo 13 Record
At 1:56 p.m. EDT on 6 April, the Artemis II crew officially travelled farther from Earth than any human in history.
The previous record, 248,655 miles, was set unintentionally by the crew of Apollo 13 in April 1970, when their aborted Moon landing sent them on a free-return trajectory that swung wide around the far side. Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise held that record for 56 years.
On 6 April, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen surpassed it by 4,102 miles, reaching a maximum distance of 252,757 miles from Earth at 7:07 p.m. EDT. For context, that is roughly the distance of travelling around the Earth's equator ten times.
Christina Koch became the woman who has travelled farthest from Earth, a record expected to stand until at least Artemis IV, now that Artemis III is a test flight in Earth orbit.
Get Your Own View of the Moon
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While Orion looped round the far side on 6 April, you could step outside with a pair of binoculars and look at the near side yourself. You couldn't see the spacecraft, but you could get a real sense of the terrain the crew were photographing.
Enough magnification to trace the maria and major craters while you waited for Orion to reappear from the blackout.
More light-gathering means brighter, more detailed lunar views, great for a proper look at the far-side highlands Orion flew over.
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Earthrise and a Solar Eclipse
Two of the most anticipated moments of the entire mission came within minutes of each other on the evening of 6 April.
At 6:45 p.m. EDT, as Orion swung behind the Moon, Earth dropped below the lunar horizon from the crew's perspective: Earthset. For roughly 40 minutes, the crew was completely alone, out of contact with Mission Control, with the entirety of the Moon between them and every other human being alive.
Then, at 7:25 p.m. EDT, Earth reappeared: Earthrise. The crew attempted to recreate the moment captured by astronaut Bill Anders on Apollo 8 in December 1968: the blue-and-white marble of Earth rising above the grey lunar horizon. That photograph, "Earthrise", is widely credited with sparking the environmental movement. The new version, taken 58 years later with modern cameras, was expected to be equally powerful.
There was a bonus: near the end of the flyby window, the crew witnessed a solar eclipse from lunar orbit, the Sun gliding behind the Moon for nearly an hour from Orion's perspective. It was a view no human had seen before.
30 Science Targets
This was not just sightseeing. The science team at Mission Control had assigned the crew 30 specific lunar surface targets to photograph and observe during the flyby.
The star target was the Orientale Basin, a nearly 600-mile-wide impact crater that straddles the boundary between the Moon's near and far sides. At 3.8 billion years old, it is one of the best-preserved multi-ring impact structures in the Solar System. Orientale was due to be fully illuminated and visible as Orion approached, and the crew were to study its dramatic ring topography from multiple angles as they passed.
The observations were meant to provide data on lunar geology, surface composition, and potential landing sites for future Artemis missions. Unlike robotic orbiters, human observers can make real-time decisions about what to photograph and can describe features with a nuance that automated cameras cannot match.
The 40-Minute Blackout
For approximately 40 minutes around closest approach, Orion was behind the Moon relative to Earth. The Deep Space Network, the array of giant radio dishes that provides the mission's communication link, could not send or receive signals through 2,159 miles of solid rock.
During this blackout, the crew was entirely on its own. They had practised for this extensively, all procedures were pre-loaded, and the spacecraft's autonomous systems handled navigation. Mission Control maintained a calm wait, knowing that when Orion reappeared on the other side, the first voice they heard would be from the farthest humans have ever been from home.
This was a planned part of the free-return trajectory. No intervention was needed. But the silence, for those watching the mission feeds, was bound to be palpable.
How the Flyby Was Covered
NASA provided continuous coverage of the flyby across multiple platforms:
NASA TV / NASA+: Free livestream at nasa.gov/live and on the NASA app. Coverage included live mission audio, camera feeds from inside Orion, and expert commentary from Johnson Space Center.
YouTube: NASA's official YouTube channel carried the full livestream.
Netflix: After missing the launch, Netflix livestreamed the lunar flyby, on the Artemis II event page in the Netflix app.
ESA Web TV: The European Space Agency also carried coverage, particularly focused on the European Service Module that powered Orion.
Tracking Orion: NASA's Artemis Real-Time Orbit Website (AROW) let you follow Orion's position, speed, and distance from Earth and Moon in real time.
The flyby observation window opened at 2:45 p.m. EDT (7:45 p.m. BST) and closed at 9:40 p.m. EDT (2:40 a.m. BST). The most dramatic moments, Earthset, closest approach, distance record, and Earthrise, happened between 6:45 and 7:25 p.m. EDT (11:45 p.m. and 12:25 a.m. BST).
If you could only tune in for one stretch, that 40-minute window around closest approach was the one. And then, when the radio came back, you could listen for the crew's voices from the far side of the Moon.
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Ian ClaytonAmateur astronomer and founder of WatchTheStars.co.uk, dedicated to helping others explore the wonders of our universe. Full profile →
