'Welcome home, Artemis': Crew celebrates historic 10-day moon mission

After their historic lunar flyby, the crew safely splashed down in the Pacific.

ByMary Kekatos, Julia Jacobo, Leah Sarnoff, Ivan Pereira, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: April 11, 2026, 5:12 PM EDT

NASA's Artemis II mission lifted off on April 1 at 6:35 p.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The four-person crew completed a 695,081-mile, 10-day journey around the moon, also known as a lunar fly-by.

A "textbook" splashdown took place at 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday, April 10.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Apr 10, 2026, 8:07 PM EDT

3 main chutes deploy

The three main parachutes have also successfully deployed, as Orion approaches splashdown.

NASA's Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crewmembers, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen is seen under parachutes as it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, April 10, 2026.
Bill Ingalls/NASA
Apr 10, 2026, 8:04 PM EDT

Parachutes deploy

Parachutes have been deployed to help slow the rapid descent of the spacecraft ahead of splashdown.

Apr 10, 2026, 8:02 PM EDT

NASA regains communications with crew

After an expected 6-minute blackout, NASA has regained communications with the crew.

Apr 10, 2026, 7:55 PM EDT

Spacecraft reenters Earth's atmosphere

Orion has reentered the Earth's atmosphere at an altitude of 400,000 feet, reaching peak heating and speed as it travels nearly 35 times the speed of sound.

The reentry also marks the start of a planned 6-minute communications blackout. The friction and compression of the atmosphere as Orion falls creates a plasma bubble that will engulf the spacecraft, not allowing radio signals in or out.

A view of Earth just before the Orion spacecraft entered its blackout period while returning to Earth's atmosphere, April 10, 2026.
NASA

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