#FridayFunFact – 3rd April 2026

Today’s Fun Fact surrounds Artemis II, which launched successfully on Wednesday, 1st April. Currently, 4 Humans, 3 from NASA, and 1 from the CSA, are on their way to re-visit the moon for the first time in 50 years.

Here’s some key things to note:

• They are going to be bypassing the moon on a “Free-Return” trajectory, meaning if anything goes wrong, their orbit will bring them back to Earth.
• They will be flying by the Moon, passing over it’s far side at a height of around 4,047 miles from the surface. This means at their furthest point, they will be the furthest humans have ever travelled, as Apollo 13 passed over the far side at a height of just 158 miles.
• They are the first humans to be using the Deep Space Network, since the Apollo Missions, to communicate, as they are required too at the distances they are at
• The entire mission will take a span of 10 days, and currently they are roughly 30 hours in. They will reach the furthest point, being on the far side of the moon, on Monday, April 6th.
• If you want to find out more, see this NASA Link: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/