Astronauts go further than ever - 13th April 2026

NASA: "4, 3, 2, 1, booster ignition and liftoff."

Astronauts are going back to the moon! Artemis II is the first mission. It took off on NASA's Orion spaceship.

The astronauts travelled 406,773 kilometres from Earth. That's further than Apollo 13. In 1970, it travelled 400,171 kilometres from Earth.

Astronaut Reid Wiseman spoke from space. He remembered the work of other people in our space history.

Reid Wiseman: "From Cabin of Integrity here, as we surpass the fur, the furthest distance humans have ever travelled from planet Earth, we do so in honouring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration."

The astronauts flew over the moon. They found two new craters. They named them Integrity and Carroll. Integrity is the name of their spaceship. Carroll was Wiseman's wife, who had cancer.

The Artemis II mission took photos and videos of the moon. This information will help future missions. NASA plans to land on the moon in 2028. The last moon landing was in 1972.

NASA wants to build a moon base. It has plans to go into deep space. This may be easier with a moon base to stop at.