'Welcome home, Artemis': Crew celebrates historic 10-day moon mission
After their historic lunar flyby, the crew safely splashed down in the Pacific.
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
- Crew makes 1st appearance since return from historic mission
- 'Welcome home, Artemis': Jubilant and emotional, crew speaks out on historic moon mission
- Trump says he will welcome Artemis II crew to White House 'soon'
- NASA officials hail 'new era' of space exploration after successful mission
- Crew members hoisted into helicopters
- All 4 crew members out of the capsule
What to know about NASA's Artemis II moon mission
Artemis II took astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The four-person crew launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on April 1 for a 10-day journey, with the splashdown set for Friday off the California coast.
The history-making trip will pave the way for future Artemis missions intended to eventually see astronauts set foot on the moon and the building of a permanent lunar base.
Read more here about what you need to know regarding the Artemis II mission, including who the astronauts are and how to watch.
Artemis II scheduled to launch today
NASA's Artemis II mission is scheduled to launch today between 6:24 p.m. ET and 8:24 p.m. ET from Florida's Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B.
The crew of four astronauts – mission commander Reid Weisman, mission pilot Victor J. Glover Jr., and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – will board the Orion crew capsule, dubbed Integrity, atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for a more than 600,000-mile, 10-day journey around the moon to test critical spacecraft systems ahead of the Artemis IV mission, which is intended to land astronauts near the moon's South Pole, a region never explored by humans, in 2028.
At mission's end, Orion will splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, with recovery operations conducted by the U.S. Navy and NASA.