Artemis mission approaches lunar loop for first flyby since 1972

Artemis astronauts approach historic lunar flyby, marking the first crewed pass since 1972 and achieving numerous milestones.

The Artemis astronauts entered the final phase of their run-up to a lunar loop on Monday (April 6, 2026), a tipping point of sorts that means the Moon’s gravity is now having a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s.

The Orion capsule will now whip around the Moon, setting the crew up to travel farther from our home planet than any human before.

The astronauts entered what NASA calls the lunar sphere of influence about 0442 GMT (10.12 a.m. IST) on Monday and will soon record the first lunar flyby since 1972.

As they entered the Moon’s gravitational influence, the crew was about 39,000 miles (63,000 kilometers) from the Moon and about 232,000 miles from Earth, a NASA official said on the agency’s livestream of the event.

The moon during its waxing gibbous phase | Photo Credit: Reuters

The historic occasion comes alongside a constellation of firsts for the crew of three Americans and one Canadian. Victor Glover will go down in the books as the first person of color to ever fly around the Moon, and Christina Koch will be the first woman.