The previous record was held by Apollo 13, the ill-fated mission where an oxygen tank exploded part-way to the Moon. They had to do an emergency loop around the far side of the Moon, taking them 400,171 km above sea level.

April 07, 2026 - 00:08 UTC

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Artemis II went ever-so-slightly higher, at 406,771 km.

But the reason why these two missions were record-setting is to do with an interesting quirk of the Moon’s orbit…
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The key to understanding Artemis’s record is a quirk of the Moon’s orbit. It isn’t circular—it swings between 356,000 km (perigee) and 406,000 km (apogee). That difference matters if you want to make records.
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