Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – members of the Artemis II mission – reached a distance of 406,764 km from Earth on April 6 at 7:56 p.m. This is the farthest point reached by humans in the history of space exploration.
On the night of April 6-7 (Polish time), the Orion capsule found itself on the far side of the Moon, which resulted in the loss of radio communication with Earth at around 0.47. After about 40 minutes, NASA announced that contact with the crew had been restored.
Conversation with the President of the USA
After regaining communication, the astronauts had the opportunity to talk to President Donald Trump. The US President emphasized that the members of the mission made history and made America extremely proud of them. He pointed out that no one has orbited the Moon for over half a century, and reaching such a large distance from the Earth is an unprecedented event. Trump also noted that humanity has never witnessed anything like this before.
The president congratulated each of the astronauts in turn, asking, among other things, about their feelings when they lost contact with Earth. Victor Glover admitted that in this situation he said a short prayer and then continued his work, focusing on observations of the dark side of the Moon. He added that the crew was very busy and worked hard, and the situation itself was quite pleasant for them.
A historical record and an invitation to the White House
During the conversation, Trump invited members of the Artemis II mission to the White House. The US president said that despite his numerous duties, he would certainly find time to pay tribute to the astronauts on behalf of Americans and the entire world.
The Artemis II mission is the next step towards returning humans to the Moon. The crew of the Orion capsule not only broke the distance record from Earth, but also orbited the Silver Globe for the first time in over fifty years.
