Special to CosmicTribune.com, April 7, 2026

At 12:41 a.m. ET on Monday, Artemis II’s Orion spacecraft, Integrity, crossed into the Moon’s gravitational influence. It marked the first time for astronauts to enter lunar space in more than half a century.

The crew of NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, were to begin a 7-hour lunar flyby at 2:45 p.m. ET.

Integrity’s course will send the crew behind the moon.

“While they are not parking in lunar orbit or attempting a landing, the point where lunar gravity becomes more powerful than the Earth’s is considered the arrival point to lunar space,” T.J. Muscaro reported for The Epoch Times.

They crew will be the largest yet to fly around the moon, and they were expected to set a new distance record for the farthest human beings have ever traveled from the surface of the Earth.

They were also expected to observe areas of the lunar surface that have never been seen firsthand by human eyes, and a complete solar eclipse, before lunar gravity essentially throws their spacecraft on a course back to Earth.

The schedule for April 6, 2026:

• At 6:45 p.m. ET, Artemis II will witness an “Earthset” and experience a loss of communication with Mission Control as the moon’s position moves directly between Integrity and the Earth, like the Apollo missions that came before it.
• At 7:02 p.m. ET, Artemis II is expected to make its closest pass to the lunar surface at an altitude of approximately just more than 4,000 miles. That distance will give Integrity’s astronauts a unique perspective compared to those of Apollo, who flew much closer.
• At 7:07 p.m. ET, the crew will reach their maximum distance from Earth: 252,760 statute miles.
• At 7:25 p.m. ET, communication is supposed to be reacquired, and an “Earthrise” will be observed.

“While its starting speed toward the Moon was nearing 25,000 miles per hour, the spacecraft’s forward motion has slowed to just a fraction of that speed over the past several days due to Earth’s gravity trying to pull it back,” Muscaro noted.

At 8:35 p.m. ET, the moon will begin eclipsing the Sun, allowing the astronauts to observe the Sun’s corona and look to confirm Apollo reports about the Sun’s ability to disperse moon dust. The eclipse will also allow the crew to collect data on how their solar-powered spacecraft handles being taken out of direct sunlight and other stresses that would be experienced on future Artemis II missions.

Upon completion of their objectives, the Artemis II crew will begin sending some of the imagery they collected to science teams on the ground.

At 1:25 p.m. on April 7, Artemis II will begin its journey home immediately after its pass around the moon. It will leave the moon’s gravitational pull and begin falling back to Earth.

Artemis II is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 p.m. on April 10.

  ‘Integrity’s 7-hour flyby includes communications blackout on far side of Moon