HOUSTON (AP) — The Artemis II astronauts are already the champions of a fresh new era of lunar exploration. Now it’s time to set a new distance record.

Four astronauts reestablished contact with Mission Control after an expected 40-minute communications blackout — among the longest in human spaceflight history — as they passed behind the moon.

The Orion spacecraft will also depart the lunar sphere of influence, the area where the moon’s gravity is stronger than that of Earth, as it continues its return journey.