Artemis II astronauts are 184 times higher than the ISS. Here's why

• The Artemis II mission is a 10-day test flight around the moon in the Orion crew capsule.
• As of April 2, the astronauts were orbiting Earth at a height 184 times higher than the International Space Station.
• The crew is expected to travel farther from Earth than any humans ever have, surpassing the Apollo 13 record.
• This mission is a crucial test flight to set the stage for a future NASA moon landing.

Any human who travels more than 62 miles high has successfully reached the internationally-recognized boundary of outer space, known as the Kármán Line.

Those Artemis II astronauts? They're just a littlebit further than that.

How far exactly in space are they? To put it in relatable context, the Orion crew capsule the Artemis II crew is riding on a 10-day trip around the moon is, as of the morning of April 2, way, way higher than the International Space Station.

And they have a lot further to go yet.

Ahead of the Artemis II astronauts will be about four days of traveling toward the moon, where they should make history by traveling about a quarter-of-a-million miles from Earth. From there, they'll swing around the moon and end their journey with about 685,000 miles on Orion's odometer.

Here's what to know as the Artemis II astronauts begin their crucial test flight, aimed at setting the stage for a NASA moon landing in 2028.

Where is Artemis II now?

NASA's Artemis II mission got off the ground at 6:35 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 1, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The agency's towering 322-foot Space Launch System rocket provided the initial burst of power to propel the Orion spacecraft with the astronauts inside on its way.

What followed the launch was a series of complex steps within the first few hours of the mission to set the stage of the Artemis II crew to begin the 10-day journey around the moon in the Orion capsule.

As of the morning of April 2, the astronauts continue to orbit Earth about 46,000 miles high.

Artemis II astronauts orbiting Earth 184 times higher than ISS

That height is about 184 times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station, which is typically about 250 miles above Earth.

The aging 25-year-old orbital outpost has seven astronauts on board, including three Americans, all of whom are taking part in scientific experiments designed for microgravity and helping to maintain the station.

Recently, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Chris Williams conducted the first spacewalk of the year outside the station, suiting up to lay the groundwork for the future installation of solar arrays.

What's the difference between low-Earth and high-Earth orbit?

The space station circles our planet at an altitude referred to as low-Earth orbit, which is closer to Earth's atmosphere and allows the outpost to move more quickly around Earth than objects further out in space. In fact, in a typical day, the ISS orbits Earth about 16 times, according to NASA.

SpaceX's Starlink satellites and Amazon's LEO satellites, which provide commercial broadband internet services, also operate in low-Earth orbit in order to offer higher connection speeds.

The Orion spacecraft that the Artemis II astronauts are riding, on the other hand, is for the time being in a high-Earth orbit.

That altitude will eventually allow the astronauts to prepare Orion for a maneuver to raise the vehicle's perigee – an astronomical term referring to the point at which an object is nearest to Earth in its continuous orbit. The maneuver will set the Orion spacecraft up for operations to send it on a four-day trip toward the moon, known as a translunar injection burn.

When will Artemis II reach the moon?

If all goes according to schedule, Artemis II is due to reach the moon and make a historic lunar flyby Monday, April 6.

The crew – NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen – are ultimately setting out to test the Orion capsule as NASA eyes building a lunar settlement in the years ahead.

Swooping around the moon's far side, the astronauts aboard Orion are expected to travel farther from Earth than any humans ever have – surpassing the record of 248,655 miles set in 1970 during the infamous Apollo 13 mission. Whizzing by the moon up to 6,000 miles above the surface, the astronauts will also glimpse the celestial body's full disk, seeing sights that not even the Apollo astronauts witnessed.

How long is the Artemis II mission? Here's when they'll land on Earth

With the moon rendezvous complete, the astronauts will then make a four-day journey back to Earth, using our planet's gravity to naturally pull Orion back home, negating the need for propulsion or much fuel.

Once Orion blazes through Earth's atmosphere, a protective heat shield will be cast off to make way for parachutes to deploy and slow the vehicle down.

The capsule will then make a water landing likely Friday, April 10, in the Pacific Ocean near California, after which five orange airbags will inflate around the top of the spacecraft and flip the capsule into an upright position. After the landing, the crew would exit the vehicle onto a recovery vessel within about two hours.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]