The Artemis II crew has safely returned to Earth after a nearly 10-day mission around the Moon, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego early Saturday, according to Nasa.Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen re-entered the atmosphere travelling at Mach 33. Their Orion spacecraft, Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot, completing a parachute-assisted landing. The mission marked the first crewed lunar flyby in more than half a century.
The space agency also shared splashdown footage on X, announcing the completion of the historic lunar crewed mission and the successful exploration of “our celestial neighbours”.The capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at Mach 33, or 33 times the speed of sound, becoming engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating. Mission control also entered a planned communication blackout during this phase.Nasa confirmed communications with Orion were re-established as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. At 8.03 pm, drogue parachutes deployed at 23,400 feet, reducing velocity to 479 feet per second and stabilising the spacecraft approximately 0.8 miles from splashdown. At 8.04 pm, the drogue chutes were cut and the three main parachutes deployed at 5,400 feet, slowing Orion to under 200 feet per second for its final descent.Following splashdown, Nasa confirmed the spacecraft remained stable in the water while engineers carried out post-landing checks and powered down nonessential systems in preparation for recovery operations.The recovery director authorised teams from Nasa and the US military to approach the capsule using inflatable boats. Engineers began initial post-splashdown procedures while awaiting crew extraction.The astronauts were safely extracted from Orion onto inflatable rafts, known as the “front porch”, before being transferred into US military inflatable boats.The crew was hoisted into US Navy helicopters and flown to the recovery ship USS John P. Murtha. Nasa confirmed all four astronauts were safely aboard the vessel, where they began post-mission medical evaluations.Nasa stated the crew will later be flown back to shore and transported by aircraft to the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for further assessment.Recovery operations will continue to secure the Orion spacecraft for transport. Nasa, US Navy and US Air Force teams are coordinating to bring the capsule aboard the USS John P. Murtha before it is returned to Naval Base San Diego and then to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for detailed inspection, data retrieval and post-flight analysis.
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