Artemis astronauts break record for farthest distance between humans during epic mission

The Artemis II Moon mission became a global news sensation as mankind boldly travelled further than ever before.

Now, new calculations have revealed a fascinating stat for a record-breaking distance between human beings in space.

The farthest separation between humans was achieved on 6 April 2026, between the crew of NASA's Artemis II Moon mission and the crew of the CNSA (China National Space Administration) Tiangong space station in Low Earth Orbit.

At 10:22 p.m. Universal Coordinated time (UTC), when the Artemis crew were approaching apogee (the farthest point from Earth) on the farside of the Moon – and the crew of the Tiangong were passing around 425 km (264 mi) above New Orleans, USA, on the opposite side of the Earth – they were separated by a distance of 419,656 km (260,761 miles).

Unbeknownst to the crew of Artemis II – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch (all USA) and Jeremy Hansen (Canada) – at that moment in time and space, they were making history with the crew of Tiangong – Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang from China, as they passed by on the other side of Earth. This calculation was summarised by GWR spaceflight consultant Jonathan McDowell, who posted his findings in a thread on X.

Originally, the theory was that the crew onboard ISS (International Space Station) may have been at the furthest point, but McDowell has calculated that Tiangong’s crew were ever so slightly more distant.

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Yet in terms of isolated individuals in history, Alfred M. Worden (USA) still holds the record for most isolated human being. The farthest any human has been removed from his nearest living fellow human is 3,596.4 km (2,234.69 mi), in the case of the command module pilot Worden on the US Apollo 15 lunar mission of 30 Jul-1 Aug 1971, while astronauts David Scott and James Irwin were on the Moon at Hadley Base exploring the surface.

During their mission, the crew onboard NASA’s Artemis II achieved the record for the highest altitude reached by humans, which has stood since 15 April 1970, when the damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft passed around the Moon.

On the morning of 6 April, ahead of their record-setting pass around the lunar farside, the crew of Artemis II were sent a recording made last year by the commander of Apollo 13, Jim Lovell (who passed away in August 2025), congratulating them on reaching "my old neighborhood".

The crew have reached a distance of around 252,756 miles from Earth as they flew behind the Moon, during which time for 40 minutes they were out of communication with ground control. Christina Koch added to her record for longest continuous time in space (female) and the highest altitude achieved (female).

As well as showing our distant planet Earth, photos released last week also show the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun.

Will more records soon be revealed from the NASA mission’s scientific findings?

Image credits: NASA