Artemis II Crew Returns Safely After Historic Moon Mission

The four-person crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on the evening of April 10, 2026, concluding a nearly 10-day journey that took them farther from Earth than any humans had traveled since the Apollo era. The Orion capsule entered the atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour and endured temperatures upward of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit before a series of parachutes slowed it to around 19 miles per hour at splashdown, according to NPR.

The crew - NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen - was recovered by the USS John P. Murtha, a Navy amphibious transport ship stationed near the splashdown zone. They arrived at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, April 11, where they were reunited with their families at Ellington Field to a standing ovation and remarks from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, according to CNN.

Records and Milestones

During the mission, the Artemis II crew broke a distance record that had stood since 1970. At their farthest point from Earth, the crew reached 252,756 miles - surpassing the record previously held by the Apollo 13 mission by more than 4,100 miles, according to NPR. They also witnessed a total solar eclipse from space and conducted the first crewed manual flight test of the Orion spacecraft.

The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 1, 2026. It was the first crewed mission to travel to the vicinity of the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972, a gap of more than 53 years. Artemis II was a test flight - no crew member landed on the moon - but it provided NASA with flight data on the Orion vehicle’s performance, including the heat shield, which had shown unexpected behavior on Artemis I, the preceding uncrewed mission, according to NPR.

Inside the Mission

Recovery crews found the astronauts in good spirits immediately after splashdown. NASA’s Artemis II landing and recovery director Liliana Villarreal told reporters that the crew was already taking selfies with the medical team inside the capsule before being brought out, according to CNN. The crew completed an obstacle course test and medical evaluations aboard the recovery vessel before flying to Houston.

Speaking at Ellington Field on Saturday, mission commander Wiseman was visibly emotional. Glover expressed gratitude he described as too large to contain, according to CNN. Koch reflected on what it meant to be part of a crew. Hansen addressed the crowd’s response to the mission, telling those gathered: “We are a mirror reflecting you, and if you like what you see, then just look a little deeper.”

What Comes Next

The Orion capsule will return to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a post-flight inspection, with engineers examining how the vehicle performed across all systems, according to NPR. Data collected during Artemis II will inform preparations for Artemis III, the mission currently planned to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. Artemis III is currently targeted for launch in 2027.

References: Artemis II astronauts have just one task ahead of them today: Return home | What the Artemis II crew shared in first remarks after return to Earth