Astronauts aboard Artemis II have described the emotional toll of their historic journey as they prepare for a high-risk “fireball” re-entry. The crew is set to splash down off California on Friday (10 April) after travelling farther than any humans in history.
During their return, the spacecraft is expected to reach speeds of nearly 24,000 miles per hour as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere. This phase will serve as a critical test of Orion’s heat shield under extreme temperatures and friction.
The Artemis II crew consists of four astronauts: NASA’s Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist), and CSA’s Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist).
The spacecraft reached a distance of approximately 405,555 kilometres (about 252,000 miles) from Earth, surpassing the record held by Apollo 13 for more than five decades. Their trajectory took them beyond the Moon’s far side, offering a rare vantage point and making them the farthest-travelling humans in history.
The mission marks a key step in NASA’s Artemis programme, a multibillion-dollar effort to return humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
“We plan to hand [the baton] to the next crew, and every single thing that we do is with them in mind,” astronaut Christina Koch said, describing the programme.
Future missions aim to test docking systems, land astronauts on the lunar surface, and ultimately establish a sustained human presence. This is seen as a stepping stone for future missions to Mars and part of a broader space race with China.
Beyond its technical achievements, the mission has also carried emotional significance. Crew members spoke of brief but powerful conversations with their families, describing moments of laughter and tears during communications from deep space.
In one poignant moment, Jeremy Hansen proposed naming a lunar crater after Reid Wiseman’s late wife, drawing emotional reactions both aboard the spacecraft and among mission control staff in Houston.
Meanwhile, scientists on Earth have been closely analysing real-time observations from the crew’s lunar flyby.
The mission will culminate in a splashdown off the coast of San Diego, marking the end of a journey that scientists see as a crucial step towards unlocking mysteries about the solar system’s formation.
As the crew prepare for re-entry, all eyes remain on the spacecraft’s performance during one of the most dangerous phases of space travel.
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday (9 April) that restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is a vital interest for both Italy and the European Union, pledging coordination with international partners to ensure safe passage.
Iranian officials have criticised ceasefire violations by Isreal and U.S., citing Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon on Wednesday (8 April), an intrusion of a military drone, and a U.S. denial of Tehran’s right of nuclear enrichment, on the first day of the two-week ceasefire on Wednesday.
At least four people died after a small dinghy carrying migrants to Britain sank in the English Channel, French authorities announced on Thursday.
China and Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Tuesday aimed at coordinating defensive efforts to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, leaving no agreed international framework for securing the vital route.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it had stopped firing on northern Israel and Israeli forces on Wednesday as part of a two-week ceasefire in the Middle East brokered between the United States and Iran. However, a Hezbollah lawmaker warned that the pause could collapse if Tel Aviv does not adhere to it.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Iran and the United States, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate two-week ceasefire covering all areas, but Israel says the deal excludes Lebanon. Tel Aviv says the U.S. is committed to achieving shared goals in upcoming negotiations.
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Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to astronauts on the Artemis II mission on Wednesday, celebrating the first Canadian to fly around the moon and marking a lighter moment in U.S.-Canadian relations that have been strained under U.S. President Donald Trump.
The four astronauts aboard Artemis II briefly lost contact with Earth while flying behind the Moon, then regained it during a dramatic lunar far-side flyby.
The crew of Artemis II mission are entering a pivotal phase of their journey, as they prepare to swing around the Moon and head back towards Earth. Now on the fifth day of their 10-day mission, the four astronauts are already witnessing views no human has ever seen.
The 4-person crew in the Orion capsule on NASA's Artemis II space shuttle carried out a key thruster firing on Thursday, sending the ship past the main orbit of the Earth towards the moon, in the hope of beating Apollo 13's distance in 1970, as they took pictures using phones and cameras.
Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.
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