'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
NASA releases new 'selfie' of Orion capsule, prepares for Day 4
NASA released a brand-new high-resolution "selfie" of Orion in space.
The space agency says the image was taken with a camera mounted on one of the spacecraft’s solar array wings during a routine inspection on the second day of the Artemis II mission.
The Artemis crew has several items on their agenda for the fourth day of their mission.
At 9:10 p.m. ET, the space agency says Victor Glover will take manual control of Orion for a scheduled deep‑space handling test to see how the spacecraft responds to different maneuvers far from Earth.
In addition, NASA flight controllers have scheduled a 24‑hour acoustics test to help engineers better understand sound levels inside Orion’s cabin.
-ABC News' Briana Alvarado
Artemis II crew woken up with Chappell Roan bop
The Artemis crew awoke from their sleep to the song "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan around 12:35 p.m. ET.
“We were all eagerly awaiting the chorus,” one crew member said.
NASA also just released new downlinked images from Orion capturing Commander Reid Wiseman and Mission Specialist 1 Christina Koch gazing at Earth from Orion’s windows, a reminder of home as they travel toward the moon.
-ABC News' Briana Alvarado
Orion passes midpoint as Artemis II enters Flight Day 4
Overnight, the Orion spacecraft moved closer to the moon than to Earth, with just over 119,000 miles still to go.
According to NASA, after the first outbound trajectory correction burn was canceled, the crew prepared the cabin for the upcoming lunar observation period and tested Orion’s emergency communications system.
The crew remains asleep now, with a scheduled wake-up around 11:35 a.m. CDT/ 12:35 p.m. EDT to begin Flight Day 4.
-ABC News’ Briana Alvarado
Artemis II nearly halfway to the moon
The Artemis II crew is nearly halfway to the moon on Day 3 of the historic mission, NASA said in an update Friday evening.
The crew aboard the Orion spacecraft will take a 685,000-mile journey around the moon, also known as a lunar fly-by, during which they will conduct scientific observations of the moon's surface, NASA said.