On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II mission officially completed a lunar flyby, making Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Colonel Jeremy Hansen and his crewmates, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, the space explorers who have ventured farther into space than anyone before.
The crew reached the furthest point of the mission, 406,773 km away from Earth, allowing them to glimpse places on the Moon that have never been seen before by human eyes. The crew officially broke the Apollo 13 record of 400,171 km, set back on April 14, 1970. During the flyby manoeuvre, they came around the far side of the Moon with unique images and having experienced the Earthrise - Earth rising over the edge of the Moon.
Jeremy Hansen, now the only Canadian to have flown around the Moon, is on his way back to Earth, a journey that should take about four days to complete. The Orion spacecraft will harness the Earth-Moon gravity field on its way back, being pulled back naturally by Earth's gravity before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean, near the coast of San Diego. Splashdown is currently scheduled for April 10.
