'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
8-year-old watches his plush toy rocket to the moon with Artemis II
A second-grader's plush toy design has rocketed to space alongside astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Jr., Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen on board the Artemis II moon mission.
Lucas Ye, 8, designed a white moon plush named "Rise," which wears an Earth cap with a brim highlighting the galaxy and rockets.
Lucas and his family were invited to witness the Wednesday evening launch of Artemis II at the Kennedy Space Center, an experience that Lucas described to "Good Morning America" on Thursday as "really cool."
"I feel very lucky. A little idea can turn out into a big thing," Lucas told "GMA."
Read more here.
-ABC News' Yi-Jin Yu and Nic Uff
Artemis II crew enters high Earth orbit
The Artemis II crew has entered high Earth orbit about two hours after lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center.
The crew will spend about a day in orbit testing Orion's systems. If everything is operating properly, Orion will be instructed on Thursday to perform the translunar injection burn, which will send the crew and spacecraft along their path to the moon.
NASA said high Earth orbit extends "about 46,000 miles beyond Earth."
-ABC News' Briana Alvarado
NASA administrator says astronauts in 'great spirits'
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Artemis II marked America's "grand return to the moon" during a Wednesday evening news conference.
Isaacman said NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover Jr. and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, "are safe. They're secure, and they're in great spirits."
"We will continue to monitor their health and status as we move into the next phase of the Artemis II mission," he continued. "You have our commitment to keep the public as informed as possible on this historic mission.
"We will hold our celebration until this crew is under parachutes and splashes down off the West Coast," Isaacman said.
Isaacman said about 51 minutes into the flight, during a planned handover between satellites, there was a temporary loss of communications with the ground team not able to receive data from the crew or spacecraft. However, he said communications have since been restored.
Artemis II launch in photos
NASA's Artemis II mission launched on Wednesday evening, beginning the crew's 685,000-mile, 10-day journey to and from the moon.
The Orion spacecraft will loop astronauts around the moon and go farther into deep space than humans have ever traveled.
Here's a look at the launch in photos: