The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission have safely returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Friday evening. The Orion space capsule completed a historic 10-day journey around the Moon, marking the first human lunar voyage since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen travelled 694,481 miles (1,117,659 km) during the mission. The spacecraft touched down at 5:07 pm local time (1:07 am BST), with all crew members reported in good health.
Speaking at a press conference after the landing, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said: '53 years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we return to stay. Let us finish what they started.' NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, speaking from the recovery ship USS John P. Murtha, described the crew as 'ambassadors from humanity to the stars' and emphasised that this is 'just the beginning' of regular lunar missions.
The crew became the first humans to travel to the Moon and return safely since Apollo 17. Koch, the only woman on the mission, described her emotional reaction to seeing the lunar surface up close: 'I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon... it became real.' Hansen became the first Canadian to travel to the Moon.
After splashdown, a recovery team from the USS John P. Murtha retrieved the crew using boats and an inflatable platform attached to Orion's hatch. The astronauts were then transferred to the naval vessel by helicopter for medical assessment. NASA plans to use data from Artemis II to prepare for Artemis III, a crewed Moon landing scheduled for 2028.
