And as a matter of historical significance, this will be the furthest humans have ever travelled from Earth. We've existed for 300,000 years (homo sapiens), and no human has ever gone as far from this rock as these 4 people are about to do.

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[–] laverabe@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

The Artemis 2 crew will come within 6,479 miles (10,427 kilometers) of the lunar surface and travel 6,400 miles (10,300 km) beyond the far side of the moon. From this vantage point — farther than any humans have ever traveled into deep space — they will be able to see both Earth and the moon from Orion's windows.3 Apr 2023

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-announces-the-astronaut-crew-for-artemis-ii-lunar-flyby/

I don't know the reason why the distance is further but I would imagine it is intentional to increase speed or some other technical reason.

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Actually since they are further away from the moon, they'll most likely be moving slower (relative to the moon). Higher orbit = slower travel.

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Ah, you know your orbital mechanics :D

[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

I did some looking and found this question on Stackexchange. The diagram was super helpful for me -- it's pretty intuitive to see where the mission is going.

Also, thanks for posting that article! It had a reference to http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-112622a-artemis-i-breaks-apollo-13-distance-earth-record.html which cited the actual records (talking about Artemis I, not II):

The uncrewed Orion flew past the record-setting distance achieved by the Apollo 13 command module "Odyssey" at 248,655 miles from Earth (216,075 nautical miles or 400,171 kilometers) at about 8:40 a.m. EST (1340 GMT) on Saturday (Nov. 26).

The Apollo 13 spacecraft had previously set the record on April 14, 1970, at 7:21 p.m. EST (0021 GMT on April 15).

...

NASA expects the Artemis I capsule to reach a maximum distance from Earth of 268,553 miles (432,194 km) at 4:06 p.m. EST (2106 GMT) on Monday (Nov. 28).

So they're actually going 32,000km past the previous record. It's interesting that they're using such a far-flung lunar orbit.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago

I don't know the reason why the distance is further but I would imagine it is intentional to increase speed or some other technical reason.

Aren't they going further out for a more efficient insertion into the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit which Lunar Gateway will be in?