Artemis II Crew Safely Returns from Lunar Mission

The Orion spacecraft carrying NASA's Artemis II crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California, on April 10, 2026, at 5:07 p.m. local time, marking the successful conclusion of the first crewed mission to the moon's vicinity in more than 50 years. The four astronauts aboard—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, all from NASA, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—emerged unscathed after a 10-day journey that tested critical systems for future lunar exploration.

Launched on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop the agency's Space Launch System rocket, the mission followed a free-return trajectory around the moon's far side. The crew achieved a record distance of 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the mark set by Apollo 13 in 1970. During the flight, they conducted manual piloting tests, captured thousands of high-definition images of the lunar surface and Earthrise, and performed scientific observations, including biological experiments on deep-space effects on the human body. NASA officials described the voyage as a vital dress rehearsal for upcoming missions, with all...