Artemis II’s astronauts closed out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, setting new records near the Moon with grace and joy, reports AP/UNB.
It was a dramatic finale to a mission that revealed not only vast stretches of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but also a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably Earth shimmering against the endless black void of space.
With the flight now complete, the four astronauts have set Nasa on course for a crewed Moon landing within two years and a full-scale lunar base within the decade.
The triumphant crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen—emerged from their bobbing capsule into sunlight off the coast of San Diego.
In a scene reminiscent of Nasa’s Apollo-era missions, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft attached to the capsule, lifting them aboard for the short journey to the Navy recovery ship USS John P Murtha.
“These were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there, and I can’t imagine a better crew,” Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the recovery ship.
Nasa’s Mission Control erupted in celebration, with hundreds pouring in from support rooms. “We did it,” said Nasa’s Lori Glaze at a news conference. “Welcome to our Moonshot.”
Their Orion capsule, named Integrity, completed the plunge on automatic pilot. It entered the atmosphere at Mach 33—a speed not seen since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
Tension mounted in Mission Control as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma and entered a planned communications blackout. All eyes were on the heat shield, which had to withstand extreme temperatures during re-entry.
Watching from nearly 3,200 kilometres away, the astronauts’ families gathered in Mission Control’s viewing room, cheering as the capsule emerged from its six-minute blackout and again at splashdown.
The last joint re-entry of a lunar crew by Nasa and the US Defense Department was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II returned at 36,174 feet per second—just below the record—before slowing to a 30 km/h splashdown.
Unlike earlier missions, which featured only white male astronauts, Artemis II reflects a more diverse era. Koch became the first woman to fly to the Moon, Glover the first Black astronaut, and Hansen the first non-US citizen—sparking pride in Canada.
Artemis II’s record flyby and lunar views
Launched from Florida on 1 April, the astronauts achieved a series of milestones in Nasa’s long-awaited lunar return.
Although Artemis II neither landed on nor orbited the Moon, it surpassed Apollo 13’s distance record, reaching 406,771 kilometres—the farthest humans have ever travelled from Earth.
During the mission’s most emotional moment, the crew requested permission to name a pair of craters after their spacecraft and Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll.
During Monday’s flyby, they captured images of the Moon’s far side never before seen by humans, along with a total solar eclipse.
“The eclipse just blew all of us away,” Glover said.
Their images, including an “Earthset” reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise photograph, captivated audiences worldwide.
Isaacman, born after the Apollo era, greeted the astronauts with embraces as they boarded the recovery ship. They walked unaided, declining wheelchairs.
“We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon and bringing them back safely,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”
The mission drew global attention and praise from figures including US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Britain’s King Charles III, and several Hollywood actors.
Artemis II tests future Moon missions
Despite its success, the nearly 10-day mission faced technical challenges. Issues affected the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems, while the onboard toilet malfunctioned.
The astronauts, however, downplayed these problems.
Military aircraft photographed the heat shield during re-entry, and divers inspected it after splashdown. Further analysis is planned.
“We can’t explore deeper unless we accept inconvenience and risk,” Koch said.
Hansen added, “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but the final test is in space—and it’s a big one.”
Under NASA’s Artemis programme, Artemis III will test docking procedures in Earth orbit, while Artemis IV aims to land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole in 2028.
The Artemis II crew said their mission was dedicated to those future explorers.
“We hoped, even for a moment, the world would pause and remember this is a beautiful planet,” Wiseman said. “We should cherish what we have been given.”
