Artemis II makes triumphant return to Earth after record-breaking mission to the Moon

James Saunders
Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:09:09 +0000

Nasa's Artemis II spacecraft has returned to Earth after completing its historic, record-breaking journey around the Moon.

Just after 1am BST, the Orion module separated from the rest of the craft and plummeted down into the Pacific Ocean - after reentering our atmosphere at almost 25,000 miles per hour and enduring temperatures of 2,760C.

Around an hour and a half later, all four astronauts had safely exited the spacecraft.

Christina Koch was the first to emerge, followed by Victor Glover, then Jeremy Hansen, then finally Reid Wiseman.

The module had earlier successfully deployed its parachutes and made its way into the sea off Southern California.

Speaking from the USS John P Murtha, floating nearby, Nasa chief Jared Isaacman vowed it would not be a "once in a lifetime moment" - and that today was only the beginning.

"It's a huge moment for everybody," he said. "We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more.

"I mean, this is not a once in a lifetime thing. No, it's not. This is just the beginning. We are going to get back into doing this with frequency, sending missions to the Moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base."

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Mission Control, meanwhile, called the landing "a perfect bullseye splashdown".

There had been concerns over the capsule's heat shield after the unmanned Artemis I test flight's own coating flaked off.

But on Saturday - or Friday afternoon, at 5.07pm local time - the manned mission made it back home in one piece.

The crew's homecoming cleared a critical final hurdle for the Lockheed Martin-built LMT.N Orion spacecraft, proving it would withstand the extreme forces of re-entry from space.

At the peak of re-entry stress, as expected, intense heat and air compression formed a red-hot sheath of ionised gas, or plasma, that engulfed the capsule.

This cut off radio communications with the crew for several minutes.

Cheers then broke out in Houston as comms were re-established with the crew five minutes before splashdown.

Commander Reid Wiseman broke the team's silence by saying: "Houston, we have you loud and clear."

"What a journey," he said as the crew splashed down. "We are stable one, four green crew members."

Nasa labelled their return a "textbook touchdown".

On the space agency's live feed, an announcer can be heard saying the four astronauts are "in great condition" and "all in excellent shape".

Since Artemis II blasted off on April 1, the mission has captivated the world with its extraordinary images of the Moon and the Earth, and updates from the astronauts' journey into space.

The four eventually travelled further from Earth than any humans in history.

They reached a maximum distance of approximately 252,760 miles from our planet on Monday, shattering a record that had stood for more than half a century.

In total, the quartet travelled some 694,392 miles across two Earth orbits.

It marked the first crewed test flight in a series of Artemis missions which aim to start landing astronauts on the lunar surface, starting in 2028.

GB News understands President Donald Trump, who personally congratulated the team after they broke the distance record, was watching the splashdown from the Trump Winery in Virginia.

He said on social media following their return: "Congratulations to the great and very talented crew of Artemis II.

"The entire trip was spectacular, the landing was perfect and, as President of the United States, I could not be more proud!

"I look forward to seeing you all at the White House soon. We’ll be doing it again and then, next step, Mars!"

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, meanwhile, congratulated the crew on "an historic feat".

British engineering played its part on the journey into space, too - the Goonhilly Earth Station, near Helston, in Cornwall, helped track the flight.

The last time Nasa sent astronauts to the Moon was as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The agency is seeking to return a crew to the lunar surface by 2028, before China does in about 2030.