The four astronauts of the Artemis II mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Friday night, concluding a historic 10-day journey around the moon. All crew members are in good health, Nasa confirmed.
The Orion spacecraft travelled 694,481 miles (1,117,659km) before touching down at 5.07pm local time. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch of Nasa, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency became the first humans to travel to the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
“This is not a once in a lifetime … This is just the beginning,” said Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman from the recovery ship USS John P Murtha. “We are going to get back into doing this with frequency, sending missions to the moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base.”
During the mission, the crew captured stunning images of the lunar surface and Earth. Christina Koch described her first impression of the moon: “The moon really is its own unique body in the universe … it just reminds us how much we have in common.”
The successful splashdown marks a major milestone for the Artemis programme, which aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2028. Nasa’s exploration ground systems manager Sean Quinn said, “We accomplished what we set out to do.”
