The four astronauts of Nasa's Artemis II mission reached a record-breaking distance from Earth on Monday, 6 April, as they flew deeper into space than any humans before them.
The lunar flyby plunged the crew into darkness and a 40-minute communications blackout, as the moon temporarily blocked contact with Nasa's Deep Space Network, a global array of massive radio antennas used to communicate with the spacecraft.
“It’s so great to hear from Earth again,” astronaut Christina Koch said from the spacecraft after reestablishing contact with mission control at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston.