The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on Saturday that the crew of Artemis II had safely returned to Earth after successfully splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, marking a historic milestone in human space exploration. NASA posted a joyful “fist bump” update on X just before reentry, giving viewers a peek into the crew’s last preparations as they prepared the spacecraft for descent.
Artemis II Mission Ends With Pacific Splashdown; WATCH Video
NASA shared the information in a post on X, writing, “Fist bump! The crew of Artemis II is currently less than 35,000 miles from Earth. The weather is favourable for splashdown, and the astronauts are getting the spacecraft ready for reentry.” The crew broke the record for the furthest human spaceflight distance at 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth while navigating the far side of the Moon, marking a significant milestone for the mission. Another unique occasion in human space travel occurred during the voyage when the crew saw a solar eclipse from space. The US Indo-Pacific Command states that the crew and the Orion spacecraft will be recovered by the US Navy’s USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) after splashdown.
Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy! 🫶
The Artemis II astronauts have splashed down at 8:07pm ET (0007 UTC April 11), bringing their historic 10-day mission around the Moon to an end. pic.twitter.com/1yjAgHEOYl
— NASA (@NASA) April 11, 2026
A crucial component of NASA’s larger strategy to send people back to the Moon and further deep space exploration is the Artemis II mission. The crew included Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch. Notably, Artemis II became the furthest human space traveller ever, surpassing the Apollo 13 mission’s previous record of 248,655 miles from Earth.
NASA’s First Moon Voyage Of 21st Century Ends Successfully
NASA’s first crewed test mission under the Artemis program, Artemis II, is intended to verify vital systems needed for a long-term human presence outside of low-Earth orbit.
According to NASA’s official website, Artemis II has five primary aims. These included demonstrating systems and operations necessary for a crewed lunar campaign; retrieving flight hardware and data, evaluating performance for future missions; demonstrating emergency system capabilities and validating related operations to the extent feasible, such as abort operations and rescue procedures, as needed; and completing additional objectives to verify subsystems and validate data.
Artemis II also marks the first crewed mission to travel around the Moon in more than 50 years, carrying astronauts farther into space than any humans have travelled before, reinforcing a new era of lunar exploration.
(With Inputs From ANI)
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