The four astronauts of the Artemis II mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Friday evening, concluding a record-breaking 10-day journey around the moon. All crew members were reported to be in good health after the Orion capsule touched down at 5.07pm local time (1.07am BST).
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch of Nasa, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen became the first humans to travel to the moon and return safely since Apollo 17 in 1972. They join an exclusive group of just 24 others who have accomplished this feat.
Speaking at a late-night press conference, Nasa’s associate administrator Amit Kshatriya said: “53 years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we return to stay. Let us finish what they started.” The Orion spacecraft travelled 694,481 miles (1,117,659km) during the mission, which is officially recorded as 10 days, with launch day treated as flight day one.
After splashdown, a recovery crew from the USS John P Murtha retrieved the astronauts, who were then assessed by navy personnel and transferred to the ship by helicopter. Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman praised the crew as “absolutely professional astronauts, wonderful communicators, almost poets”, adding: “This is just the beginning.”
Christina Koch described her first impressions of the moon during Orion’s closest approach: “I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon. The moon really is its own unique body in the universe.” She became the only woman to have travelled to the moon and back during a mission of firsts. Nasa plans to build on these achievements with a scheduled crewed moon landing in 2028.
