Humans travel farthest from Earth ever as Artemis II surpasses Apollo 13 record near moon

The Artemis II mission has made history, with its crew becoming the farthest humans to travel from Earth, surpassing a record set more than five decades ago.

At 1:57 PM ET on Monday, astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft passed 400,171 kilometres from Earth, breaking the distance record established during Apollo 13 in 1970.

The Canadian Space Agency confirmed that Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his American crewmates, including commander Reid Wiseman, have now travelled farther into space than any humans before.

"It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable," Hansen said, as reported by CBC News.

He also challenged "this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived."

Former Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean described the moment as historic, despite the mission being a test flight.

"It's taken us a long time to get here," he told CBC News, addinh: "Fifty-four years since Apollo. It's generations of leadership to get the strategy in place for this."

The crew also proposed naming two newly observed lunar craters and shared emotional moments as they honoured past missions and loved ones.

As Orion continues its journey around the Moon, the crew is expected to conduct observations before returning to Earth later this week, marking a major step in future lunar exploration.