Artemis II commander feared crew might be stranded after odometer exceeded planned limit
Commander Reid Wiseman said the Artemis II crew briefly feared they had gone too far from Earth when the spacecraft’s distance reading rose above the maximum NASA had given them.
At the Starmus Festival in Tenerife, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman recounted a moment when the spacecraft’s distance counter exceeded the 219,667 nautical-mile maximum that Houston had communicated, climbing to 219,669 and sparking a brief panic that the crew might be lost in space. The four-person crew - Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen - had been performing a lunar flyby before being slung back toward Earth.
After three minutes the odometer reversed, confirming their return path. The mission set a new record for the farthest distance traveled by humans, surpassing Apollo 13, and ended with a planned splashdown off San Diego on April 10. The astronauts later received Stephen Hawking medals for science communication at the festival. Wiseman also described an emotional “Earthsickness” feeling while looking back at the tiny planet from deep space.
Why it matters
The episode highlights the risks of deep-space travel and the psychological pressures astronauts face on historic missions.
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