Artemis Crew Makes Historic Trip to Moon

Four astronauts made history recently—blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1 and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean nine days later. Their historic mission took them farther from Earth than any humans in history: more than 252,000 miles!

The voyage spanned nearly 700,000 miles total, and the crew became the first humans to see some parts of the moon’s far side with the naked eye. They also had the opportunity to view a solar eclipse in deep space when the moon moved between the Orion and the sun, giving them an astonishing view with a ghostly glow. The Artemis mission was the first piloted moonshot since the end of the Apollo missions—53 years ago!

The Artemis crew included commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. While all of the astronauts have previously spent time in space, they talked about the unique experiences and views this mission offered.

“Trust us. You look amazing. You look beautiful,” Glover said about their unique view of Earth. “No matter where you’re from or, you know, what you look like. We’re all one people.”

There are no easy parts of a NASA mission, and that includes getting the crew safely home. As the astronauts returned to earth in their Orion capsule, they entered the atmosphere traveling at a speed of 24,000 miles per hour—that’s fast enough to fly from Los Angeles in New York in about six minutes! Along with the speed, the temperature of the capsule’s heat shield reached about 5,000°F, half as hot as the visible surface of the sun.

While the Artemis crew set a number of milestones and firsts, this mission was also intended as a test flight to try out different systems and equipment. NASA has future Artemis missions planned with the goal of landing astronauts on the moon in 2028.