The four Artemis II astronauts successfully splashed down off the coast of San Diego on Friday evening, marking the end of a historic 10-day mission.
The crew, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center on April 1, traveled around the moon at a distance of 252,000 miles from Earth, setting a new record for the farthest humans have traveled in space.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman expressed his gratitude to the recovery team ahead of the splashdown, praising their expertise and dedication.
"I have no doubt that you're all going to execute this flawlessly as we get these astronauts who will just complete an absolute historic mission, traveling further into space than any humans have gone before," Isaacman said.
The Artemis II mission marked a significant milestone in NASA's efforts to return humans to the moon, with Isaacman noting that it was the first time humans had ventured into the lunar environment in over 50 years.
NASA plans to build on this success with the upcoming Artemis III mission, which is set to launch in 2028 and will include the first moon landing in decades.
Once landed, the agency aims to establish a sustainable presence on the moon, with plans to build a permanent lunar base.
After being helped out of the Orion crew module, the four astronauts – Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen – were taken aboard the USS John P. Murtha for medical evaluation.
The Orion spacecraft reentered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of around 25,000 mph, slowing to about 20 mph using an 11-parachute sequence before landing in the ocean approximately 60 miles off the coast.
The reentry process subjected the spacecraft to temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, a testament to its thermal protection system's effectiveness.
The Artemis II mission marked a crucial step towards realizing NASA's vision of a sustained human presence on the moon, with the agency poised to make further breakthroughs in the years to come.
