Artemis II Crew Prepares for Reentry After Lunar Orbit

NASA's Artemis II mission reached a milestone on Thursday as the four-astronaut crew completed their final full day in space, preparing for reentry to Earth after orbiting the Moon for the first time since 1972. The crew, commanded by NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and including mission specialist Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, traveled farther from Earth than any humans before, breaking a record set over five decades ago. Officials expressed confidence in the Orion spacecraft's heat shield as it gears up for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, potentially under light rain in the recovery zone.

Launched earlier this month, Artemis II marked the program's first crewed flight, a critical step toward establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon. The astronauts conducted scientific observations during their lunar loop, capturing close-up views of the surface and its geological features. In an unexpected highlight, the crew witnessed at least six micrometeorite impacts on the Moon's far side during a nearly hour-long total solar eclipse, as viewed from their vantage point with the Sun obscured by Earth. "We have seen three impact flashes so far," Wiseman reported to...