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Ephemeris: 04/16/2026 – The greatest distance humans have traveled from the Earth

April 16, 2026 Leave a comment

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, April 16th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 8:29, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:54. The Moon, 1 day before new, will rise at 6:38 tomorrow morning.

On their trip around the moon the Artemis 2 crew set a new record for distance from the earth of 252,760 miles (406,778 kilometers) which beat by 4,105 miles (6,607 kilometers) the record of Apollo 13 of 248,655 miles (400,171 kilometers). This was helped a great deal by the fact that the moon reached apogee, its farthest distance from the Earth, a few hours after the Artemis 2 capsule, Integrity, passed by. So I think the record is going to hold up for a while. So the only way to get further away from the earth is to head out to Mars, or the Chinese make a farther flyby of the Moon. The Artemis 2 mission was to see if the capsule can sustain human life comfortably during an extended mission. It seemed proved it’s worth. The videos that came back seem to be reasonably roomy, much more so than the Apollo capsule.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

At the time the spacecraft Integrity encountered the Moon, it was 4% farther away than average. Integrity was two moon diameters past the Moon at it's farthest from the Earth.
At the time the spacecraft Integrity encountered the Moon, it was 4% farther away than average. Integrity was two moon diameters past the Moon at it’s farthest from the Earth. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it.
Categories: Artemis Program, Ephemeris Program Tags: