Artemis II sails through trip around moon after surpassing Apollo 13’s distance record

HOUSTON — With the moon now filling their windows, the Artemis II astronauts sailed into their lunar flyby Monday, taking in magnificent views of the far side never before witnessed while setting a new distance record for humanity. The six-hour flyby was the highlight of NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo era with three Americans and one Canadian — a step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years. First came a prize — and bragging rights — for Artemis II. Less than an hour before kicking off the fly-around and intense lunar observations, the four astronauts surpassed the distance record of 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers) set by Apollo 13 in April 1970. They kept going, hurtling ever farther from Earth. Before it was over, Artemis II beat the old record by 4,101 miles (6,600 kilometers). “It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed ahead of the flyby. He challenged “this generation and the next to make sure this record is

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