The biggest breakthrough in space exploration was made in 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly into space. Regular readers of our site know very well that his flight lasted only 108 minutes, that is, a little less than two hours. During this time, the Vostok-1 spacecraft rose to an altitude of 327 kilometers above the Earth, and at that time it was an unimaginable record. But today, flying to such an altitude is a common thing – the distance that Gagarin covered is about the same as a trip from Moscow to Orel. Today, dozens of astronauts and cosmonauts safely get to the ISS, which is located at an altitude of about 400 kilometers above the Earth, and this is already commonplace. In the modern world, people fly into space very often, so the question arises: what is the maximum distance that humanity has traveled from the Earth? The answer may surprise you.
Only three people in the history of mankind have ever been as far away from Earth as possible. Source: freepik.com
First space flight distance record
After the legendary Yuri Gagarin, the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft flew a long way from Earth in July 1969. On that day, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the surface of the Moon, while their colleague Michael Collins waited in lunar orbit inside the Columbia command module.
Apollo 11 crew. Source: wikimedia.org
During the first flight to the Moon, the Apollo 11 crew traveled almost 400,000 kilometers away from Earth. This is a very large distance, and vivid examples are needed to understand this. So, if we consider that the equatorial circumference of the Earth is approximately 40,000 kilometers, then a flight to the Moon is like ten trips around the world along the equator.
Photograph of the first people on the Moon. Source: mk.ru
Or here's another example: if the International Space Station is located at an altitude of 400 kilometers above the Earth, then a flight to the Moon is like a thousand flights to the ISS.
Not only Yuri Gagarin:Russian cosmonauts who have accomplished feats in space
The farthest human space flight
The results of the Apollo 11 mission are impressive, but people have been to even greater distances. For example, in April 1970, the crew of the Apollo 13 spacecraft flew over the far side of the Moon and thus found themselves at a distance of 400,171 kilometers from Earth. The crew of the ship consisted of three American astronauts: James Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise.
Participants in the space mission. Source: wikipedia.org
It is noteworthy that as part of the Apollo 13 mission, the astronauts were supposed to land on the surface of the Moon once again. But two days after the launch, a serious accident occurred, which damaged the service module and led to the loss of the life support systems of the crew members. To save themselves, the astronauts had to fly around the Moon – the record was set completely by accident.
The Apollo 13 mission was made into a great movie of the same name with Tom Hanks. Source: space.com
In the end, it turns out that humanity has flown away from Earth at a maximum distance of 400,171 kilometers.Perhaps in the future this record will be broken – for example, to get to Mars, space travelers will have to overcome from 55 to 401 million kilometers.
Article on the topic: The most amazing records set by people in space
At what distance are the Voyager probes
We have dealt with long-distance flights of people into space, but what about satellites? Due to the fact that there are no people inside these devices who need oxygen, food, and so on, they can fly to an unimaginable distance from the Earth.
The record holder in this regard is the Voyager 1 space probe. It was launched into space in 1977 and is still plowing through the vastness of the Universe. As of 2024, it is located at a distance of about 24.4 billion kilometers from the globe. It left the Solar System in 2012 and is now in interstellar space.
The Voyager 1 space probe. Source: habr.com
It also has a twin brother, Voyager 2, which was launched a couple of weeks later. Due to the delayed launch, it has not yet managed to fly a record distance, but it is still very far from us – there are about 20.2 billion kilometers between us.
Inside Voyager is a golden record with information about the inhabitants of the Earth. The project managers saved greetings in 59 languages, various music, human voices, sounds of nature and even the coordinates of the Sun. There are also a hundred images on the record, some of which you can see at this link.
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There is hope that someday an alien mind will find these records and contact us. However, many scientists believe that it would be better if this did not happen – it is not a fact that aliens will be friendly. Even artificial intelligence recently warned about the danger of aliens.