The four astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis II mission reached the deepest point in space ever traveled by humans on Monday, as their Orion capsule swung toward a rare crewed flyby over the dark far side of the moon.

Lunar Flyby Puts History Within Reach

Reuters reported that the milestone came as lunar gravity pulled the spacecraft through the most dramatic phase of the nearly 10-day mission, the first human voyage into the moon's vicinity in more than half a century.

As the six-hour lunar flyby began, about two dozen lunar scientists gathered in a room next to mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to listen as the astronauts described the moon's surface in real time.

Artemis Crew Breaks Apollo 13 Distance Mark

Later Monday, the crew broke the long-standing Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance humans had traveled from Earth. Reuters said Artemis II first passed the roughly 248,000-mile mark reached in 1970 by Lovell and his crewmates after an onboard emergency forced them to use the moon's gravity to slingshot home. Artemis II was then expected to push out to about 252,755 miles from Earth, more than 4,100 miles beyond the Apollo 13 record that had stood for nearly 56 years.

Mission Carries Scientific And Market Ripples

During the flyby, the astronauts also assigned provisional names to previously unnamed lunar features and prepared to photograph the moon from roughly 4,000 miles above its shadowed surface. NASA has said the mission is a crucial test flight for the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028, ahead of China, and establish a sustained U.S. presence there as a stepping stone toward future Mars missions.

Prime contractors associated with the Artemis II mission include Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT), which was directly involved in building the Orion capsule, saw its stock rise 2.43% on Monday to $637.90, adding another 0.16% in after-hours trading.

Meanwhile, Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA), a core developer of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, saw the value of its stock rise 1.96% on Monday to $212.30. Other associated specialized firms like Intuitive Machines Inc (NASDAQ:LUNR), Rocket Lab Corp (NASDAQ:RKLB) and Redwire Corp (NYSE:RDW) saw mixed fortunes on the day.

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