Simulating the Artemis II Lunar Flyby on April 6, 2026

This visualization simulates what the crew of Artemis II will see out the window on the day of their closest approach to the Moon on April 6, 2026. It flies the virtual camera on the actual post-TLI trajectory around the Moon's far side over nearly eight hours beginning at 18:00 UTC, covering the entire period of the crew's scheduled science observations that start 45 minutes later. This simulated view was used by the Artemis II Lunar Science Team to create the observation plan that was uploaded to the spacecraft on the morning of April 5.

The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, will carry four astronauts to within 6545 kilometers (4067 statute miles, 3534 nautical miles) above the surface of the Moon at the time of closest approach, known as pericynthion or PC. On this kind of trajectory, the Moon's gravity is used to bend the path of the spacecraft around the Moon's far side and then back toward the Earth. Apollo 13 followed a similar path to bring it home safely after an explosion damaged their spacecraft, although their PC altitude was only 251 kilometers (156 miles).

At their much higher altitude, the Artemis II crew will be able to see the entire disk of the Moon throughout their flyby. The virtual camera's short focal length approximates this view, which at PC is roughly equivalent to a basketball held at arm's length. At their farthest point from Earth, the crew will be 406,740 kilometers (252,737 miles) above the Earth's surface, surpassing a record held for 56 years by Apollo 13 at 400,073 kilometers (248,647 miles). And they will be traveling hundreds of times farther than anyone has gone since Apollo 17 more than half a century ago.