A four-astronaut crew from NASA has conducted a flyby of the far side of the Moon and is now on its return trip to Earth. This mission has set a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans in space and marks the closest approach to the lunar surface in over 50 years.

According to NASA calculations, the spacecraft came within an estimated 4,067 miles of the Moon's surface at its closest point. From the astronauts' perspective, the Moon appeared roughly the size of a basketball held in an outstretched hand.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman posted on X that minutes later, the spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth, achieving a milestone of 252,756 miles.

Earlier, the mission broke the previous space travel distance record. NASA reported that shortly before 2 p.m. ET on Monday, the Orion spacecraft of the Artemis II mission surpassed the 248,655-mile (400,170 km) record set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

On April 6, 2026, a fully illuminated Moon was photographed. On April 4, astronauts traveling to the Moon looked back at Earth through the main window of the Orion spacecraft.