'It's so great to hear from Earth again': Relief as Artemis II regains contact with Nasa after 40-minute blackout
The four astronauts on board Artemis II have regained contact with Nasa after a scheduled communications blackout while they passed the far side of the Moon.
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The Orion spacecraft lost contact with Earth as scheduled, with the Moon blocking communications signals with Nasa's Deep Space Network.
Around 40 minutes later, at 12.30am BST, the Orion regained contact with Nasa after becoming the first humans in more than 50 years to completely lose contact with Earth.
Mission specialist Christina Koch broke the silence from the Orion when she was heard saying "Houston, Integrity, comm check".
She then said: "It's so great to hear from Earth again."
The blackout came after the crew broke the record for the furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth.
The record was previously set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 - the crew travelled 248,655 miles from Earth.
As they broke the record, Mission Control told the astronauts: "Integrity crew: On 15 April, 1970, during the Apollo 13 mission, three explorers set the record for the farthest distance humans have ever travelled from our home planet.
Read more: Artemis II crew enters moon’s ‘sphere of influence’ ahead of historic flyby
"At that time, over 55 years ago, Lovell, Swigert, and Haise flew 248,655 statute miles away from Earth.
"Today, for all humanity, you're pushing beyond that frontier."
One of the Artemis astronauts added: "We surpass the furthest distance humans have ever travelled from planet earth. We do so in honouring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration.
"We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything we hold dear."
To commemorate the Artemis II mission, the astronauts announced their suggestion to rename certain features on the Moon to honor the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, as well as commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll. pic.twitter.com/ejfhnItDo8
— NASA (@NASA) April 6, 2026
As part of their mission, the crew of Artemis II have touchingly proposed naming a crater after Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.
A second feature on the lunar landscape was named Integrity, which was the crew's name for the Orion spacecraft carrying them on their historic mission.
The next hurdle for Artemis II to clear will be a solar eclipse, in which their view of the Sun will be completely block by the Moon.