The bottom line: Astronauts probably won’t exceed Artemis II’s distance from Earth on most lunar landing missions, but circumstances may occasionally align to push a crew just past the 252,756-mile mark. The sure bet will come when someone finally aims for Mars.
“Big disappointment”
Haise, the only Apollo 13 astronaut still alive, didn’t care much about the record he and his crewmates set in 1970. It was a consolation prize of sorts, for Haise. You probably know the History of the aborted Apollo 13 lunar landing. and the ongoing, high-risk effort to bring the crew home.
Still, among the more than 100 billion people who have walked the Earth throughout human history, the Artemis II astronauts have ventured farther from the cradle than anyone else. Sure, it’s not about walking on the moon, but it’s more than just trivial.
Haise, 92, spoke to Ars as Artemis II returned to Earth earlier this month. We present our conversation below, lightly edited for clarity.
Ars: Have you followed the Artemis II mission closely?
Fred Haise: Not very close. Today I haven’t seen anything. I just got home from my great-grandson’s baseball game. I noticed that, according to their projected flight plan, they have passed the Moon, in a sort of cruise back to Earth for re-entry. I have seen the photographs they have taken, which are excellent. They have better cameras and better equipment than we had on the Apollo, because it really seems like they got much higher resolution photos than we were able to get from that altitude.
Ars: I guess all this will bring back some memories for you.
Smell: Vaguely. When they land on Friday, if you go the next day, Saturday the 11th, that’s when I took the plunge, 56 years ago. So, yes, I have lived several lives, the Shuttle program and then in the business world. It was a long time ago.
