A historic milestone in space exploration has an Albanian connection.

NASA’s Artemis II mission has officially become the farthest human spaceflight in history, with astronauts traveling more than 252,000 miles from Earth — surpassing a record set during the Apollo era over 50 years ago.

Among those contributing to the mission is Albanian-American engineer Albon Rexhepi, part of the team at DEWETRON.

According to reports, Rexhepi and his team helped provide advanced data acquisition and monitoring systems used in the Orion spacecraft — technology essential for tracking critical flight parameters and ensuring mission safety.

Artemis II marks the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, as NASA pushes toward returning humans to the Moon and eventually sending astronauts to Mars  .

While the astronauts aboard the spacecraft made history in space, engineers and scientists on Earth — including members of the Albanian diaspora — played a crucial role behind the scenes.

Rexhepi’s journey, from the Balkans to contributing to one of NASA’s most ambitious missions, highlights once again the growing global impact of Albanian professionals in science and technology.