Artemis II astronauts approach 100,000 miles from Earth on voyage to the moon

The Guardian · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · Apr 03, 2026 · 819 words · By Ashifa Kassam

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What to know about Artemis II astronauts approach 100,000 miles from Earth on voyage to the moon

The four astronauts on the Artemis II mission are approaching 100,000 miles from Earth as they head towards the moon, putting them on track to reach the farthest distance humans have ever travelled into space.

Claims checked 20

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left14%

Center72%

Right14%

7 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Why it matters

The crew have left Earth’s orbit and fired their engines on Thursday for a “translunar injection”, sending the Orion capsule on its trajectory towards the moon.

Common ground

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am so, so excited to be able to tell you that for the first time since 1972 during Apollo 17, human beings have left Earth orbit,” Nasa’s Dr Lori Glaze told a news conference.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Artemis II astronauts approach 100,000 miles from Earth on voyage to the moon?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The astronauts, Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian, spent their first day in space performing checks on the spacecraft, which had never carried humans before?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/03/artemis-ii-astronauts-rocket-tow…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 20 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 10

help Insufficient Evidence 5

verified Verified By Reference 3

check_circle Corroborated 1

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “The astronauts, Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian, spent their first day in space performing checks on the spacecraft, which had never carried humans before.”

CORROBORATED

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it corroborated based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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cross reference SUPPORTS — The team, who donned bright orange suits with blue trim as they blasted off, includes Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/04/02/artemis-ii-astronau…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — The team featuring Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch along with Canadian Jeremy Hansen is on a roughly 10-day mission to hurtle around Earth’s nearest celestial neighbour withou…
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article…

help

Claim 2: “In the event something goes wrong, the astronauts are equipped with suits that also serve as 'survival systems'.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 3: “Orion will travel about 4,000 miles beyond the moon before turning back, providing unprecedented and illuminated views of the lunar far side.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 4: “Koch later said she was proud to call herself 'the space plumber', noting that it had just been an issue of the equipment needing to warm up.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 5: “After what NASA described as a 'flawless' engine firing that lasted just under six minutes, the astronauts said they had been glued to the windows of the capsule as they left Earth.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 6: “The mission marks a series of historic accomplishments, including sending the first person of colour, the first woman and the first non-American on a lunar mission.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 7: “NASA’s Dr Lori Glaze stated that human beings have left Earth orbit for the first time since 1972 during Apollo 17.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it verified by reference based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Mod…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived during Project Me…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Third-party evidence for the Apollo Moon landings is evidence or analysis of evidence about the Apollo Moon landings that does not come from the U.S. government (the first party) or from Moon landing …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_evidence_for_Apoll…

schedule

Claim 8: “The current era of US lunar investment has frequently been portrayed as an effort to compete with China, which aims to land humans on the moon by 2030.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 9: “If all proceeds smoothly, the astronauts will set a record by venturing farther from Earth than any human before – more than 250,000 miles.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 10: “The astronauts are on a 'free return' trajectory, which uses the moon’s gravity to slingshot around it before heading back towards Earth.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it insufficient evidence based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 11: “The four astronauts on the Artemis II mission are approaching 10,000 miles from Earth as they head towards the moon, putting them on track to reach the farthest distance humans have ever travelled into space.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it verified by reference based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Artemis II is a U.S. spaceflight to send four astronauts on a flyby around the Moon and back to Earth. Launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026, the ten-day mission is crewed by NASA astron…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_II

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Artemis III is planned to be the second crewed mission of the NASA-led Artemis lunar exploration program. The mission's objectives are to conduct tests in low Earth orbit with one or both commercially…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_III

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 through Space Policy Directive 1. By 2028…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program

info

Claim 12: “The mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the moon, with the aim of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.”

SINGLE SOURCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it single source based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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cross reference SUPPORTS — The Artemis II mission is part of a longer-term plan to repeatedly return to the Moon, with the goal of establishing a permanent base that will offer a platform for further exploration.
https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/04/03/artemis-ii-astronau…

schedule

Claim 13: “After years of delays and massive cost overruns, it was meant to take off in February but was again delayed by repeated setbacks, with the rocket needing to be rolled back to its hangar for repairs.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 14: “After blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, the astronauts sounded the alarm over a slight glitch: a toilet had begun malfunctioning as the crew reached orbit.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 15: “It is also the inaugural crewed flight of SLS, NASA’s lunar rocket.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “They are expected to spend 30 minutes a day working out on the spacecraft’s flywheel exercise device, in order to minimise the muscle and bone loss that happens in the absence of Earth’s gravity.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 17: “The Artemis programme has come under pressure from Donald Trump, who is hoping US boots will hit the lunar surface before his second term ends in January 2029.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 18: “The projected date of 2028 for a landing has raised eyebrows among some experts, in part because Washington is relying heavily on the private sector’s technological headway.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 19: “With help from mission control, Koch was guided through some plumbing tricks until she finally got it going, but not before having to resort to using contingency urine storage bags.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

verified

Claim 20: “The crew have left Earth’s orbit and fired their engines on Thursday for a 'translunar injection', sending the Orion capsule on its trajectory towards the moon.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it verified by reference based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2026 (MMXXVI) is the current year, and is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2026th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 26th year of the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.