Artemis spacecraft carries humans into lunar orbit for first time in 54 years; approached within 6,545 km of the Moon's surface

NASA announced Orion entered the Moon’s far side on April 7 (JST) at about 7:44.

This was the first crewed lunar orbit since Apollo 13 in 1970—54 years.

The mission used a nonstandard trajectory that looped around the Moon’s far side and returned to Earth.

Orion reached a closest approach altitude of about 6,545 km; the far-side distance was approximately 400,6770 km, with the farthest point about two minutes after closest approach.

Communications were lost during the far-side transit and later restored; the flight required precise trajectory control, planning accounted for no remote Earth control, and reentry and Pacific splashdown off California are scheduled for April 11.