Artemis II splashes down after historic lunar mission

Artemis II splashed down in the Pacific off San Diego, ending a 10-day mission that carried its crew on a record-setting distant lunar flyby and returned them safely to Earth.

Artemis II returned to Earth with a splashdown off the coast of San Diego, completing a 10-day mission that took its crew farther from Earth than any humans have flown. The capsule reentered the atmosphere and descended under large orange-and-white parachutes before touching down at about 19 mph. Recovery teams reached the heat-darkened Orion by boat and helicopter and moved the crew and capsule to the nearby USS John P. Murtha for follow-up checks and study. Key facts: - The crew consisted of Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialists Jeremy Hensen and Christina Koch. - The capsule endured extreme heating during reentry, was blackened on return, and was recovered at sea for post-flight analysis. - Artemis II reached about 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing a long-standing distance record, and completed roughly a 685,000-mile figure-eight flight around the moon. - During the mission the crew flew about 4,000 miles from the lunar surface and sent back images of previously unseen swaths of the far side. - The crew held an emotional dedication during the lunar flyby, naming a crater after Commander Wiseman’s late wife, and the flight included several notable firsts for crew composition reported by NASA. - NASA reports that the mission's outcomes feed into the schedule ahead, including an orbital test in 2027 (Artemis III) and plans for a crewed lunar landing campaign in subsequent Artemis missions. Summary: Artemis II's safe splashdown closed a mission that extended human reach beyond earlier lunar-era flights and returned scientific and visual data for study. NASA has scheduled an orbital test in 2027 and has outlined follow-on Artemis missions aimed at returning humans to the lunar surface in the coming years.