Artemis II crew shares emotional moment as astronauts make history with moon flyby

This is an adapted excerpt from the April 6 episode of “The Beat with Ari Melber.”

On Monday evening, the Artemis II crew officially broke the record for the farthest distance human beings have traveled from Earth. The ship hit an astounding 252,000 miles away from home, surpassing the 248,000-mile record set by Apollo 13.

That morning, the crew woke up to a message from the late Jim Lovell, a pilot for the Apollo 8 mission and the commander for Apollo 13.

Lovell, who recorded the message before his death last year at the age of 97, gave them some words of encouragement and advice ahead of their lunar flyby. “Welcome to my old neighborhood,” he said, adding: “It’s a historic day, and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”

And enjoy the view they did. The four astronauts swooped across the far side of the moon, becoming some of the first humans to witness parts of its surface with the naked eye.

After the crew emerged from the other side of the moon, they were greeted by a solar eclipse, sending stunning images of the event back down to Earth.

Artemis II crew captured the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun during their lunar fly by on April 6, 2026. NASA

If we take a step back, humanity has accomplished so much, considering that flight itself was achieved by the Wright Brothers in 1903. In the past 123 years, we’ve come a long way.

John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. In 1969, the first human beings landed on the lunar surface, a pivotal moment in U.S. and world history.

Throughout the years, we have captured awe-inspiring images, like Eagle Nebula’s “Pillars of Creation,” courtesy of the Hubble Telescope, 7,000 light-years away.

Pillars of Creation, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in near-infrared-light view. NASA

We’ve sent robots to Mars. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner Rover gave us our first panoramic glimpse of the red planet.

Sojourner Within Color-Enhanced Panorama. NASA

The Cassini mission explored perhaps the most beautiful planet in our solar system, Saturn. In 2013, a photo titled “The Day the Earth Smiled” captured the planet’s rings, the Earth and the moon in the same frame.

Cassini spacecraft captured an image of Saturn, seven of its moons, its inner rings, and, the Earth on July 19, 2013. NASA

And we cannot forget about our farthest neighbor: Pluto. Although it’s no longer classified as a planet but a dwarf-planet, NASA’s New Horizons mission made history in 2015, sending back photos of its icy surface, including what has been referred to as Pluto’s “heart,” an ice plain called Sputnik Planum.

Pluto as seen from New Horizons spacecraft, 2015. Heritage Space / Heritage Images via Getty Images

After making history of its own and capturing breathtaking images that the world will never forget, Artemis II’s space capsule is scheduled to splash down back on Earth on Friday.

But before the astronauts headed home, they shared a truly touching moment. While the ship was approaching the moon, the crew called down to mission control to request that an unnamed crater be named after mission commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, a nurse practitioner and mother to two daughters, who died of cancer in 2020 at age 46.

“It’s a bright spot on the moon. And we would like to call it Carroll,” mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said through tears.

Allison Detzel contributed.

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