The Artemis II lunar flyby begins at 1 PM ET. By 7PM, the crew will be farther from Earth than any human being has ever traveled. Then they’ll go silent for 40 minutes behind the Moon and the world will wait.
Somewhere between here and the Moon right now, four people are looking out their windows at a world that keeps getting bigger. “The four of us have looked at the moon our entire lives,” Commander Reid Wiseman radioed to Mission Control Sunday night, “and the way we are responding to what we’re seeing out the window is just like we’re a bunch of kids up here.”
That’s what Monday, April 6, 2026 is. It’s the day humanity goes back not to land, but to fly close enough to see the far side with human eyes for the first time since 1972. Artemis II launched April 1. Today, the Orion spacecraft makes its closest approach: 4,070 miles above the lunar surface, passing over Apollo 12 and 14 landing sites, dipping around the far side, and going somewhere no one has been before.
At 1:56 PM ET today, the crew will officially surpass the Apollo 13 distance record 252,755 miles from Earth the farthest any human has ever traveled. They’ll keep going. Maximum distance: 252,757 miles. And then, at 6:44 PM ET, they’ll pass behind the Moon. NASA will lose contact. Forty minutes of silence. The world waits. At 7:27 PM, communication resumes. By then, history will have already been made in complete radio blackout.
We’re such a close group. I’m going to miss them so much.
Gabriela Jaquez, wait, wrong story. This is from NASA pilot Victor Glover’s Easter message from orbit: “We are the same thing. We’ve gotta get through this together.”
You can watch it live. NASA is streaming on YouTube, NASA+, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, HBO Max, and Roku starting at 1 PM ET. This is the moment. The crew splashes down Friday, April 10, in the Pacific off San Diego. The Moon landing Artemis III is planned for 2027.
How to watch today’s lunar flyby
NASA YouTube (free) · NASA+ · Netflix · Amazon Prime · Apple TV · Hulu · HBO Max · Roku all streaming from 1:00 PM ET. Key moments: 1:56 PM distance record broken · 6:44 PM comms blackout begins · 7:02 PM closest approach · 7:27 PM comms restored.
1:56 PM Record broken
4,070 mi from Moon surface
~40 min comms blackout
252,757 mi from Earth — farthest ever
Apr 10 Splashdown
NASA – Earth visible from the Orion spacecraft windows during Artemis II’s fifth flight day, Sunday April 5. The crew described seeing the Moon growing larger with every hour.
