Artemis II Lunar Mission Astronauts Returned To Earth
Credit: NASA
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which orbited the Moon as part of the Artemis II mission, has returned to Earth more than nine days after launch.
The Artemis II crew capsule splashed down off the coast of San Diego at 8:07 PM Eastern Time on April 10, after which the astronauts were evacuated aboard the USS John P. Murtha by helicopter. NASA reported that they will undergo medical examinations there before being transported to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The crew included three NASA astronauts—Reed Weisman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover—and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen. According to NASA, they are in good health.
Donald Trump congratulated the Artemis II crew. “The entire journey was amazing, the landing was perfect, and as President of the United States, I couldn’t be prouder!” he wrote on his social media account, Truth Social. He said he looked forward to welcoming the astronauts to the White House. “We’ll do it again, and then the next step is Mars!” he added.
As part of the Artemis II mission, astronauts orbited the Moon, breaking the record for the greatest distance humans have traveled from Earth. The previous manned mission to the Moon took place in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission.
