Artemis II Crew Return to Earth After Historic Moon Mission

NASA's Artemis II mission achieves historic milestones with a successful splashdown, paving the way for lunar and Mars exploration.

Publish date: since 8 hours Reading time: 1 min read

Artemis II Crew Return to Earth After Historic Moon Mission

The crew of Artemis II safely splashed down off the California coast on Friday evening, marking the successful end of a historic 10-day mission around the Moon.

The NASA Orion capsule carrying the astronauts re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at approximately 40,000kph, enduring extreme conditions before deploying parachutes and landing in the Pacific Ocean at 5:07pm local time.

During re-entry, temperatures around the spacecraft reached nearly 2,760°C as plasma formed around the capsule, making the splashdown one of the mission’s most critical final tests.

The crew—Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen—completed the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.

The mission set a new record for human spaceflight distance, reaching 406,771km from Earth during a slingshot trajectory around the Moon.

Artemis II also marked several historic milestones, including the first woman, the first Black astronaut, and the first Canadian to travel around the Moon.

During their time in space, the crew conducted a series of scientific experiments, including “organ-on-a-chip” research, which studies how deep-space conditions affect human cells and tissues.

The mission was not without challenges. Concerns had been raised ahead of re-entry about the spacecraft’s heat shield, while NASA also disclosed issues with leaky valves that may require design adjustments for future missions.

Despite these concerns, the successful splashdown represents a major step forward in NASA’s Artemis programme, paving the way for future missions aimed at returning humans to the lunar surface and eventually reaching Mars.

To read the full story for free, please enter your e-mail

Thank you for your subscription, you will receive our Newsletter shortly

Artemis II Crew Return to Earth After Historic Moon Mission

Related articles