Historic Lunar Journey: Artemis II Crew Triumphantly Returns
NASA’s Artemis II crew successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on April 10, 2026, at 8:07 p.m. EDT. This marked the completion of humanity’s first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. The four astronauts—NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen—spent nearly 10 days aboard the Orion spacecraft on their historic journey around the Moon.
The mission accomplished several significant milestones. Not only did it surpass the Apollo 13 record for the farthest crewed spaceflight from Earth, but it also captured views of the Moon’s far side for the first time in decades. The crew traveled a total of 695,081 miles, passing within 4,070 miles of the lunar surface and reaching a maximum distance of 252,760 miles from Earth.
NASA’s recovery team extracted the astronauts from the capsule approximately one hour after splashdown. They were then transported via helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha for medical evaluations. This successful mission validates NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket for future crewed lunar operations. It paves the way for a sustained human presence on and around the Moon as part of the broader Artemis program.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/artemis-ii-splashes-down/