Four astronauts from the Artemis II mission successfully splashed down off the San Diego coast after a historic journey around the moon, marking humanity’s return to lunar exploration.
Four astronauts from NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a historic 10-day journey around the moon, splashing down off the coast of San Diego on Friday evening at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time. This mission marks the first manned lunar expedition in over 50 years.
The crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center on April 1, embarking on a journey that took them approximately 252,000 miles from Earth, traveling farther than any previous human spaceflight mission.
Prior to the splashdown, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman landed on the USS John P. Murtha, where he expressed confidence in the recovery team’s ability to assist the astronauts. “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,” he stated.
Isaacman emphasized the significance of the mission, noting, “For the first time, we’ve gone into the lunar environment in more than half a century. We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon again.” He also mentioned plans for Artemis III, which is set to launch in 2028 for the first moon landing in decades, with intentions to establish a permanent lunar base.
After their historic journey, the astronauts—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen—were assisted out of the Orion crew module and taken aboard the USS John P. Murtha for medical evaluation.
The Orion spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere at approximately 25,000 miles per hour, slowing to about 20 miles per hour through an 11-parachute deployment sequence before landing in the ocean roughly 60 miles off the coast. During reentry, temperatures outside the spacecraft reached as high as 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The last time astronauts traveled to the moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, three years after the historic Apollo 11 mission, which marked humanity’s first landing on the lunar surface in 1969.
This successful splashdown signals a new era of lunar exploration for NASA and the potential for future missions that could lead to sustained human presence on the moon, according to Fox News.