Artemis II arrives in lunar space ahead of its trip around the Moon

Artemis II and its four-man crew have entered the Moon’s “sphere of influence”, meaning the spacecraft is affected more by lunar gravity than Earth’s gravity. The transition occurred at a distance of 39,000 miles from the Moon, four days, six hours and two minutes after the mission began. The next and most important phase will take place tomorrow when the craft circles the far side of the Moon, taking humans deeper into space than they have ever been before.

At their peak, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canadian Jeremy Hansen will be 252,757 miles from Earth. This will beat the previous record held by the Apollo 13 crew by just over 4,000 miles. They are the first humans to cross the lunar threshold since the Apollo 17 moon landing mission in 1972.

The crew spent this weekend preparing for their lunar flyby. This included hand-piloting demonstrations, reviewing their science objectives for the six-hour observation period and evaluating their spacesuits, which are there to ensure survival in an emergency and for their return home. But they also had plenty of time to take in the views – and those views are certainly spectacular. In the latest set of images shared by the space agency, astronauts are seen looking back at Earth through the windows of the Orion spacecraft.

Orion will reach the vicinity of the Moon shortly after midnight on Monday, April 6. Later today, the crew is expected to reach a point further than any human has ever traveled from Earth, surpassing the record of 248,655 miles from Earth set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.

The lunar observing period will begin at 2:45 p.m. ET, and a few hours later they will be behind the Moon and briefly drop communication. The spacecraft’s closest approach to the Moon is expected to occur at 7:02 p.m., when it will be 4,066 miles from the surface. “From this distance, the crew will see the entire disk of the Moon at once, including regions near the north and south poles,” according to NASA. The crew will later have the chance to observe a solar eclipse “as Orion, the Moon and the Sun align in such a way that the astronauts will see our star disappear behind the Moon for about an hour.” NASA will cover the flyby starting at 1 p.m. ET.

Updated April 7 at 1:40 a.m. ET: The post has been updated with the news that Artemis II has entered the Moon’s sphere of influence.