Artemis II astronauts return safely to Earth after historic 10-day lunar flyby

NASA’s Artemis II crew has returned safely to Earth after completing a landmark journey around the Moon, marking the first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century.

The Orion capsule, named Integrity, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday evening off the coast of Southern California after nearly 10 days in space.

The four astronauts - NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen - were recovered in good condition following the mission’s dramatic conclusion.

The spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at extreme speed after a voyage covering more than 694,000 miles (around 1.12 million kilometres), including a close flyby of the Moon at roughly 252,000 miles (about 405,500 kilometres) from Earth. At its furthest point, the crew travelled deeper into space than any humans since the Apollo era.

Their return involved a 13-minute descent through the atmosphere, during which the capsule was subjected to intense heat reaching around 2,760°C as it was enveloped in a plasma sheath that temporarily cut communications. Contact was restored as parachutes deployed, slowing the capsule before a gentle touchdown in calm seas.

NASA described the landing as a “textbook” success, with commentators calling it a “perfect bullseye splashdown” shortly after the spacecraft hit the water at around 17:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

Recovery teams quickly moved in to secure the capsule and extract the astronauts, who were then transferred for initial medical checks aboard a U.S. Navy vessel. They are expected to return to Houston on Saturday to reunite with their families.

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The mission represents a critical test flight for NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface later this decade and eventually establish a sustained presence on the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars.

Artemis II also marked several historic firsts, including record-breaking distance from Earth and milestone participation for Glover as the first Black astronaut on a lunar mission, Koch as the first woman, and Hansen as the first non-American in such a flight.

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