NASA’s Artemis II astronauts have successfully returned to Earth after completing a groundbreaking 10-day mission around the Moon.
The Orion spacecraft, named “Integrity”, splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. The four-member crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, were all reported to be in good health after their historic journey.
During the mission, the Artemis II crew travelled more than 694,000 miles and reached a record distance of over 252,000 miles from Earth, the farthest any humans have gone in more than 50 years. They completed a lunar flyby, passing behind the far side of the Moon.
This mission marks the first time humans have flown around the Moon since the Apollo era ended in 1972. It serves as a major test flight for NASA’s Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket, paving the way for future crewed landings on the Moon under the Artemis program.
NASA described the mission as a complete success. The astronauts gathered valuable data on spacecraft performance and deep-space travel conditions.
Their safe return has boosted confidence for the upcoming Artemis III mission, which aims to land humans on the lunar surface for the first time in over five decades.
