The four-member Artemis II crew safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on April 10, concluding the first crewed lunar mission since 1972. NASA recorded mission elapsed time as 9 days, 1 hour, 32 minutes and 15 seconds, though the agency commonly described it as a 10-day mission.
Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen returned inside the Orion capsule Integrity after a record-setting voyage that sent humans farther into space than ever before. During a six-hour lunar flyby the crew captured images of the moon’s far side from angles not previously seen.
Orion’s reentry followed planned procedures: the service module separated from the crew capsule, a brief communications blackout lasted roughly six minutes during atmospheric entry, and contact was restored afterward. NASA described the splashdown as a “textbook touchdown.”
Recovery unfolded in stages. The astronauts remained inside the capsule while Navy and NASA teams secured it and assisted them onto a recovery raft called the “front porch.” Naval helicopters then airlifted the crew to the US Navy ship USS John P. Murtha, positioned off San Diego, where they received initial medical evaluations before returning to Houston to reunite with family.
After splashdown, NASA entry flight director Rick Henfling said the astronauts were “happy and healthy,” noting teams had seen them several times after they exited the spacecraft. Deputy Associate Administrator Lori Glaze called the mission “just the beginning,” saying NASA is “fired up” for additional moon missions and welcoming a new generation to the agency’s “moonshot.”
Engineers and agency officials celebrated the mission’s technical success and its symbolic return to crewed lunar flight after more than five decades. US President Donald Trump posted congratulations on social media, calling the trip “spectacular” and expressing pride in the crew.
Launched aboard Orion on April 1 and returning on April 10, Artemis II demonstrated key systems and procedures for returning humans from deep space and sets the stage for future Artemis missions aimed at building a sustained lunar presence and ultimately exploring beyond the moon.