Revision History

NASA's Artemis II crew set a new distance record on April 6, 2026, traveling 252,756 miles from Earth — surpassing Apollo 13's 56-year-old mark by roughly 4,100 miles during a 10-day flyby mission around the Moon. The successful test flight validates the Orion spacecraft for crewed deep-space operations, but with over $55 billion spent and no lunar landing yet attempted, the program faces mounting questions about cost, schedule, and whether the first crewed landing — now pushed to Artemis IV in 2028 — can stay ahead of China's 2030 target.