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Apollo 13 holds the record for the furthest humans have been from Earth, reaching 400,171 km from Earth’s surface. The mission was redirected after an oxygen tank explosion, using the Moon’s gravity to return to Earth. The record is unlikely to be surpassed before 2020, when the US and Japan plan to return to the Moon. A manned mission to Mars could break the record by at least 100 times.
The furthest a human has ever been from Earth was during the Apollo 13 mission, when Americans James Lovell, Fred Haise, John Swigert passed onto the far or “dark” side of the Moon at an altitude of 158 miles (254 km) from the lunar surface. This runs approximately 400.171 km (248.655 miles) from earth. This record was reached at 0:21 UTC on April 15, 1970. The record has stood for nearly four decades and seems unlikely to be surpassed before 2020, when both Japan and the United States are expected to return to the Moon. For comparison, the distance between New York and Tokyo is 10,878 km (6,760 miles).
The record was achieved when the original mission goal, to land two men at the Fra Mauro highlands on the near side of the Moon, was canceled due to an oxygen tank explosion. Instead of landing, the craft was sent on a free return trajectory, using the Moon’s gravity as a slingshot to return to Earth. Normally this would have been a simple procedure, but a significant course correction was required, and due to the explosion, the ground operators did not want to risk firing the main engine. So, the lunar module descent engine was used.
All crewed lunar missions involved one person from the three-person team remaining in lunar orbit while the other two visited the surface. The orbital period was about two hours and the altitude ranged between four and one hundred miles. Thus, at least several people came close to achieving the distance record from Earth set by the Apollo 13 crew.
There are no plans for a manned mission to the moon until 2020, when both the United States and Japan plan to pay a visit. The exact specifics of these missions are currently unknown, so we don’t know for sure if they’ll break the record for furthest person from Earth.
Past 2020, the possibility of a mission to Mars is open. If successful, this would break the distance record for a human from Earth by a factor of at least 100.
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