'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
Side hatch opened
The side hatch of the Orion capsule is now open, as four Navy personnel -- one for each astronaut -- enter the capsule to check on the crewmembers.
Recovery personnel arrive
Recovery personnel, including Navy divers, have pulled up along the Orion capsule to help extract the crewmembers.
What comes next
The astronauts will stay inside the Orion capsule as it’s powered down and recovery teams move in to help them out and take their first breaths of fresh air on Earth since April 1.
They were initially expected to begin exiting the spacecraft around 9:06 p.m. ET but it's possible that could be pushed back. Christina Koch will exit first, followed by Victor Glover Jr., Jeremy Hansen, and Reid Wiseman last.
After they're helped out of the capsule, the crew will be moved onto a raft. From there, helicopters will lift each astronaut one by one and fly them to the USS John P. Murtha.
-ABC News' Briana Alvarado
Crew in 'excellent shape'
Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman has indicated that all the crewmembers are in "excellent shape," according to the NASA broadcast.