Closing summary
We’re closing this live blog now, but stay with us for more news coverage of the aftermath of the Artemis II mission.
Here’s what happened tonight:
The four Artemis astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 5.07pm PT after a 10-day journey to fly around the moon.
Nasa astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, became the first humans to travel to the moon and return to Earth safely since the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972.
The mission tested space hardware and life support systems that will be crucial to Nasa’s plans for the next lunar landing in 2028 and its ambitious future quest to build a moon base by the end of the decade.
Jared Isaacman, Nasa’s administrator, called the astronauts “almost poets”, and “ambassadors for humanity”.
Donald Trump, the US president, posted that he “could not be more proud” of the astronauts, and space agency that he wants to slash the budget of by more than 23%.
Read more:
'Path to lunar surface is open': Nasa deputy chief
Nasa’s associate administrator Amit Kshatriya is telling reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston that the success of the Artemis II mission belongs to thousands of Nasa workers, and partners in the international and private space communities.
“The vehicle spoke for all of them,” he said at a press conference almost three hours after the Orion capsule’s Pacific Ocean splashdown:
You all heard the crew’s words during the mission. They were incredibly inspirational. They carried the torch from Apollo around the far side of the moon. Their words belong to them. We’ll get to hear from them as soon as they’re back here. But tonight belongs to the team that built the machine that they rode.
The path to the lunar surface is open, but the work ahead is greater than the work behind us. It always will be. 53 years ago, humanity left the moon. This time we return to stay. Let us finish what they started. Let us focus on what was left undone. Let us not go to plant flags and leave, but to stay with firmness in our purpose, with gratitude for the hands who built the machines and with love for the ones that we carry with us.
Sean Quinn, Nasa’s exploration ground systems manager, said he had taken a phone call from Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman as he awaited the start of the briefing:
It was so great to hear his voice and tell us that all the crew is OK, and we could say that we did our mission. We accomplished what we set out to do.
I’m very proud of the efforts of the team that supported both the launch and recovery operations, alongside our navy partners. All the hard work and dedication over the last couple years paid off today, and the team did a great job.
Nasa TV has concluded its coverage of the Artemis II splashdown, and we’ll also be doing so shortly after an upcoming press conference from Nasa about the night’s developments.
We’ll bring you anything momentous the space agency’s top brass has to say, but to be honest it’s going to be hard for Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman to top his earlier eloquent description of the astronauts as “poets”, and “ambassadors for humanity”.
Victor Glover, the Artemis II pilot, has been laughing and joking with sailors on board the USS John P Murtha after his space flight to the moon.
Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator, greeted Glover and his fellow crew member Christina Koch, on their arrival, which was recognized by a ringing of the ship’s bell.
Isaacman hugged them both, as he did Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen as they came on board.
All four astronauts look in good health and were able to make the short walk from the flight deck to the medical bay of the navy vessel.
Updated
A navy helicopter is now winching aboard the four Artemis II astronauts on their way to medical check ups on board the USS John P Murtha.
We haven’t yet had a close-up look at the crew members, but Nasa is assuring us that all is well, and that all four are in good health and spirits.
We won’t hear from them tonight, but we are expecting a press conference shortly from Nasa’s leadership, at which we can expect a victory lap and words of gratitude for the tens of thousands of workers from the space agency, commercial partners, and the international community that made a successful flight possible.
Updated
Here’s how a crowd in San Diego celebrated the safe splashdown of Nasa’s Artemis II crew in their backyard (backocean?).
Artemis II crew emerge from Orion capsule
All four astronauts in their bright orange flight suits have emerged from the Orion capsule and are now on the inflatable platform alongside.
Commander Reid Wiseman was the last to appear. He reported to mission control that he and his three colleagues were all feeling fine as they breathed in their first fresh air since their 1 April launch.
Updated
At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, hundreds of flight controllers have poured into mission control to celebrate the safe return of the four Artemis II astronauts.
Nasa TV commentator Derrol Nail says he has not seen scenes like this since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.
“Quite a few flight controllers were invited in to share in the jubilation following the successful splashdown,” he said.
“The mission is over but the melody lingers on.”
The perfect trajectory of Orion’s approach and landing is unlike anything he has seen before, Nail said.
Updated
Recovery crews have now inflated a “front porch” to the Orion capsule, a floating platform just beyond the main hatch from which the four astronauts will shortly emerge ahead of a short helicopter ride to the navy’s recovery ship USS John P Murtha.
It’s now almost 90 minutes after the Artemis II splashdown, and medical personnel are inside the capsule assessing how the crew is doing.
Nasa TV reports all four are doing well.
One of the front porch personnel just flashed a thumbs-up sign, indicating that the Artemis crew is about to emerge and be winched to the waiting helicopter.
Trump: 'Next step Mars'
Donald Trump, the US president, has also posted his congratulations to Nasa, and the crew of Artemis II.
In a message on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote:
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! President DONALD J. TRUMP
It should be noted that, even while the Artemis astronauts were ascending to the moon, Trump was attempting to slash Nasa’s budget by 23%.
Read more:
Updated
Nasa: 'Mission accomplished'
We heard earlier some immediate, off-the-cuff comments from Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator.
Now he’s posted on X a statement from the space agency on the return home of Artemis II and its crew of four:
And splashdown!
America is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon and bringing them home safely. Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy did an outstanding job. These talented astronauts inspired the world and represented their space agencies and nations as humanity’s ambassadors to the stars.
This was a test mission, the first crewed flight of SLS and Orion, pushing farther into the unforgiving environment of space than ever before, and it carried real risk. They accepted that risk for all we stood to learn and for the exciting missions that follow, as we return to the lunar surface, build a Moon base, and prepare for what comes next.
And they were not alone. The entire NASA workforce, our commercial and international partners, and the hopes and dreams of people all over the world were with them. The astronauts know it, and you should too. This mission would not have been possible without you.
Congratulations. Artemis II, mission accomplished.
Updated
Recovery crews open Orion hatch
The first navy recovery boat has pulled up adjacent to the Orion capsule in the Pacific Ocean off the San Diego coast.
Footage on Nasa TV shows a small inflatable vessel next to the spacecraft, and crew members securing it alongside.
Two navy personnel have clambered on to Orion, and the side hatch is now open, almost an hour after splashdown.
The sea is calm, there is barely a swell.
Updated
Donald Trump watched the splashdown with friends, it seems.
Per a post on X by CPAN’s Capitol Hill producer Craig Caplan:
A White House official shares with the pool that President Trump watched the splashdown of Artemis II. A TV was wheeled into the room for the president and his MAGA Inc guests at Trump Winery.
The Trump Winery is a 1,300-acre estate owned by the president in Virginia.
Updated
Nasa has confirmed that the official time of splashdown was 5.07:27pm PT.
That means the mission elapsed time, the total duration of Artemis II’s flight from its 6.35pm ET lift-off from Florida on 1 April, was nine days, one hour, 32 minutes, and 15 seconds.
Despite barely passing a ninth day, it will be recorded officially as a 10-day mission because blast-off day was treated as “flight day one”.
The total miles flown by Artemis II and its four astronauts was 694,481.
Updated
Nasa chief: Artemis astronauts 'almost poets'
Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator, has been speaking from the deck of the USS John P Murtha as he awaits the arrival of the Artemis astronauts.
Asked how he viewed the accomplishment of sending humans to the moon for the first time since 1972, and returning them safely to Earth, Isaacman said:
Our crew members that we’ve all had an opportunity to observe over the last 10 days, they’re absolutely professional astronauts, wonderful communicators, almost poets. These were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there right now.
This is not a once in a lifetime, which you hear sometimes around here. 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.
There is a lot to celebrate right now on the mission well accomplished for Artemis II, and at the same time we’ve got to start getting ready for Artemis III.
Asked about Nasa’s lunar plans, and international partnerships, Isaacman said:
We are returning to the moon. We’re doing it to stay. We are building that enduring presence. We are going to master the skills on the surface of the moon so some day we can undertake missions to Mars.
It’s just an exciting, incredibly exciting time. And we’re not going at it alone. We’re bringing everybody along with us.
Updated
Navy fast boats with recovery crews are approaching Orion, currently bobbing in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego, video from a navy helicopter is showing.
But our first glimpse of the Artemis II astronauts could still be a hour or so away. The spacecraft must power down, and the crew have to follow a strict sequence of post-landing tasks before the hatch can open.
Also, Nasa is reporting communications glitches between the recovery teams and the capsule.
Recovery personnel will establish a “front porch” of an inflatable platform outside the capsule in the Pacific Ocean before the hatch is opened and the crew members extracted.
Updated
'Four green crew members': commander says astronauts in good shape
Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, reports “four green crew members”.
That’s not their complexion after a 25,000mph return to Earth, just confirmation that they are all in good shape!
“A textbook splashdown,” Nail says.
Video footage from a navy helicopter shows all five giant airbags on Orion have deployed, stabilizing the capsule in a not-so-choppy Pacific Ocean.
Updated
“From the pages of Jules Verne, to a modern day mission to the moon, a new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete,” Nasa’s splashdown commentator Derrol Nail says.
“Integrity’s astronauts are back on Earth.”
Splashdown!
Nasa has confirmed splashdown of Artemis II, and four astronauts aboard the Orion crew capsule, in the Pacific Ocean.
The spacecraft touched down at 5.07pm (1.07am BST) after a 10-day journey around the moon and back.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch of Nasa; and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, have just become the first humans to travel to the moon, and return to Earth safely, since the crew of Apollo 17 in December 1970.
The first in a sequence of 11 parachute deployments to slow Orion’s descent has begun.
Now all three main chutes have deployed. Everything is looking good!
Here’s a view of Orion entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Updated
Artemis back in Earth's atmosphere
“Houston, Integrity, we have you loud and clear”.
And with that, voice contact has resumed with the Orion capsule, five minutes from splashdown.
“Our trajectory is perfect,” Derrol Nail, Nasa’s commentator, says.
Orion is still in a blackout period, but ground tracking systems, including from the US navy, have sight of the capsule.
We are standing by for the momentary resumption of communications with the astronauts.
Updated
Orion's entry to Earth's atmosphere under way
The Artemis II crew has begun the reentry to Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of almost 25,000mph, and at a temperature approaching 5,000F.
We won’t hear anything from the astronauts for the next six minutes because of a communications blackout caused by a build up of super hot plasma around the spacecraft.
Splashdown of the Orion capsule is still set for 5.07pm PT. Nasa reports no issues, and that weather at the splashdown site in the Pacific Ocean is “go”.
We’re getting pictures on the news wires of the splashdown preparations happening off the coast of California.
US navy divers were preparing to deploy in small boats from the well deck of USS John P Murtha to recover Artemis II crew members.
Orion is descending at a rate of 15,000ft per second as it approaches reeentry.
“All the systems [are] in excellent shape,” Nasa splashdown commentator Derrol Nail says.
Eight minutes until reentry, 21 minutes until splashdown.
Wiseman has just announced: “We have a great view of the moon out of window two. It looks a little smaller than yesterday”.
“Good to have you back,” Nasa’s Jacki Mahaffey, in mission control, replied.
Crew module separation was followed in short order by the final firing of Orion’s thrusters, the so-called “raise burn” that commits the capsule to its final angle of descent for reentry to Earth’s atmosphere.
Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, told mission control he had “a great view” of the newly separated service module as it floated away.
“It’s a beautiful looking machine,” he said. Beautiful or not, the module will now disintegrate on reentry.
We are half an hour from splashdown.
Updated
Nasa confirms crew module separation
Orion and its European Space Agency-built service module have parted ways, Nasa has confirmed.
The service module will burn up on reentry to Earth’s atmosphere, while the Orion crew capsule is protected by a heat shield.
Orion is now flying alone for the first time in the entire 10-day mission.
Updated
Mission control has just given the go ahead for “CM raise”, the firing of thrusters to adjust Orion’s trajectory upwards for reentry, its “final angle of attack”.
All is looking good for separation of Orion from its service module in just a few minutes’ time.
3,300 miles to go!
Updated
Here’s another statistic from the mission, the total distance traveled by Artemis II and its Orion capsule since its 1 April launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
At splashdown, the spacecraft will have traveled 694,481 miles, Nasa says.
All four crew members are “suited and seated” ready for Earth atmosphere reentry, Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, has just confirmed to mission control.
Orion is now below 5,000 miles from Earth.
Updated
Nasa’s social media strategy for the Artemis II mission has been extremely proactive. The space agency’s streaming service Nasa+ has presented every step of the mission, alongside a prominent presence on other platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, X and Facebook.
On Friday, Nasa press secretary Bethany Stevens, and deputy press secretary George Alderman, presented their final Nasa Minute of the mission, a bite-sized chunk of video and information giving an umbrella-level view of some of the highlights of the 10-day flight.
We’re less than half an hour away from a vital step in the return of Artemis II, the separation of the Orion crew capsule from the European Space Agency’s service module, which has has provided the crew with power and life sustaining systems over the last 10 days.
It will be followed three minutes later by a short “crew module raise burn”, a 19-second thruster firing that will put Orion at the correct angle of descent for reentry to Earth’s atmosphere.
Commander Reid Wiseman has just said he witnessed a “beautiful” sunrise over the west coast of Australia.
Updated
Fox News has just shown video of Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman arriving on board the USS John P Murtha, the navy’s dock ship positioned off the coast of San Diego, California.
The Artemis II astronauts will receive medical checks on board after being taken by helicopter from splashdown site, and if cleared they will then travel by air to Houston’s Johnson Space Center via the US navy base in San Diego.
Dr Richard Scheuring, Nasa’s flight surgeon, has just been speaking from the ship on Nasa TV. He says he chatted with the four Artemis astronauts ahead of their descent, and that they were: “very pumped up, excited, but focused on the job they have to do”.
Scheuring said replacing lost fluids and acclimatizing back to Earth’s gravity would be a priority for the Artemis crew after almost 1o days of weightlessness. He says he’s seen returning astronauts vomiting, nauseous and struggling to walk.
Updated
Here’s a terrific graphic from Nasa of the final stages of the flight of Artemis II, from reentry in Earth’s atmosphere, through parachute deployment and its rapid decrease in velocity, to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Splashdown expected soon
Artemis II’s Orion capsule is about an hour and a half away from splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego.
Nasa’s live video from inside the capsule has just shown commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover exchanging a fist bump as they settle into their seats for final approach and a fiery reentry, known as entry interface, to Earth’s atmosphere at 24,661mph.
Several major descent milestones will happen shortly, including separation of the capsule from its service module, and exposure of Orion’s heat shield that must withstand a temperature up to 5,000F (2,760C).
Splashdown is expected at 5.07pm PT plus eight seconds.
Orion has just passed below 12,000 miles from Earth’s surface, the last leg home from a total voyage of the 10-day mission of 695,000 miles.
Updated
Video of a “fist bump” moment between the Artemis II astronauts was posted on X by Nasa a little earlier, showing the camaraderie that still exists between the four of them after 10 days squeezed together inside a space capsule the size of a small camper van.
Jacki Mahaffey, Nasa’s CAPCOM (capsule communicator), told the crew the moment was so touching she wanted to get a print of it.
‘It’s beautiful’: Artemis commander describes Earth view
Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, has just shared his observation of Earth as the Orion capsule descends below 17,000 miles from the planet’s surface.
“There’s a great blue hue to it. It’s beautiful,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nasa’s flight dynamics team has released some more figures about the precise time of descent milestones. It’s getting very technical!
The start of the communications blackout will be 4.53pm and 54 seconds PT; it will last until 4.59:55pm PT. Splashdown time is now estimated for 5.07:08pm PT.
And a weather update: clouds in the splashdown zone are “in the process” of dissipating, winds are down to six knots, waves are under four feet. All criteria are green, and the splashdown is a “go”.
Updated
One of the selfies captured by the camera mounted on a solar panel of the Orion spacecraft featured a zero-gravity indicator designed by an eight-year-old schoolboy. The picture shows astronaut Christina Koch and the mascot peeking through one of the spacecraft’s windows.
The smiley-faced plush toy was designed to float under the zero-gravity conditions, indicating to the astronauts they have achieved weightlessness. Lucas Ye, from Mountain View, California, was the mastermind behind it.
“I like rockets, I like Nasa, I like the solar system, I like studying about space,” Lucas said in a video when he made the shortlist for the global “moon mascot” competition, presided over by Nasa and Freelancer, a crowdsourcing company.
Lucas won over 2,600 other entrants.
Nasa: Artemis spacesuits 'in great shape' for reentry
Nasa says all four of the astronauts’ spacesuits have passed “leak checks” and are, the agency asserts, “in great shape” for reentry.
Splashdown commentator Derrol Nail has also just updated the expected peak speed of Orion at reentry.
He said the flight dynamics team had calculated the spacecraft will reach 24,661.21 mph at 6.54pm and four seconds, 24 seconds into reentry and an expected six-minute communications blackout.
The predicted velocity, while still unofficial, will be 130mph short of the speed record set by the returning Apollo 10 crew in May 1969, Nail said.
Updated
The Orion capsule’s glitchy $30m toilet created a little anxiety for the Artemis II astronauts during the mission, and became a source of curiosity on the ground.
The enterprising toilet paper manufacturer Charmin was quick to capitalize on the issue with the spacecraft’s Universal Waste Management System, announcing Friday that it was offering the four lunar flyers free rolls.
“We’re sorry to hear your mission included some unexpected turbulence in the bathroom department,” the company said in a post on Instagram.
“Butt don’t worry, we’ll be ready for your return with a year’s supply of Charmin to ensure a smooth landing for the next time you launch one.”
It is not know yet known if the astronauts are aware of the offer. Meanwhile, just like on a passenger airliner preparing for landing, Orion’s toilet has now been deactivated for remainder of the flight.
Three hours until splashdown!
The scheduled splashdown of Artemis II in the Pacific Ocean, at 8.07pm ET (5.07pm PT; 12.07am GMT), is now just under three hours away.
The Orion spacecraft has completed its third and final return trajectory correction burn (RTC), a nine-second, precise firing of its thrusters to maintain a correct course for Earth.
The four astronauts are working through a thorough checklist of final activities in preparation for reentering Earth’s atmosphere at 7.53pm, including donning protective spacesuits for landing.
Communications between mission control in Houston, and the spacecraft given the mission name of Integrity for the duration of its flight, are currently sporadic, but expect things to get busier as each milestone towards splashdown passes.
Orion is now less than 24,000 miles from Earth, and traveling at almost 9,000mph.
Updated
The first faces the Artemis II astronauts will see when the hatch of the Orion spacecraft opens belong to a US navy dive team more familiar with handling underwater explosives than lunar explorers.
The four are members of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 1, and their specialist medical training for at-sea conditions makes them the ideal greeters to make initial health assessments of Artemis crew, and assist them “safely and efficiently” out of the capsule as it bobs in the Pacific.
According to navy’s website, “the medical team will enter the capsule to conduct initial exams for the crew, provide triage care as necessary, and assist the astronauts in egress onto the inflatable raft set up outside by navy divers”.
They will prepare the crew astronauts to be airlifted by helicopter to the amphibious transport dock ship USS John P Murtha for a more detailed evaluation, then onward travel to Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
The medical dive team consists of Lt Cdr Jesse Wang, senior chief hospital corpsman Laddy Aldridge, chief hospital corpsman Vlad Link, and hospital corpsman 1st class Steve Kapala.
Thoughts on coming home
Several of the astronauts shared some reflections about the Artemis II mission during their final press conference from space on Thursday.
Pilot Victor Glover was asked if he had thought much about the potentially risky reentry to Earth’s atmosphere at 25,000mph and a temperature up to 5,000F:
I’ll be honest and say I’ve actually been thinking about entry since April 3, 2023, when we got assigned to this mission. At one of the first press conferences we were asked what are we looking forward to and I said splashdown
And it’s kind of humorous, but it’s literal as well that we have to get back. There’s so much data that you’ve seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There’s so many more pictures, so many more stories, and, gosh, I haven’t even begun to process what we’ve been through
Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, was asked to reflect on perhaps the most emotional episode of the flight on Monday, when the crew proposed dedicating a previously unnamed moon crater to Carroll Taylor Wiseman, his wife who died of cancer in 2020:
When Jeremy spelled Carroll’s name, that’s when I was overwhelmed with emotion. And I looked over and Christina was crying. I put my hand down on Jeremy’s hand as he was still talking, I could just tell he was trembling, and we all pretty much broke down right there
For me personally that was kind of the pinnacle moment of the mission. That was, I think, where the four of us were the most forged, the most bonded, and we came out of that really focused on that day ahead
While we wait for Nasa’s live coverage of reentry to start at about 6.30pm ET, here are some more highlights from the mission in pictures:
Updated
Mission highlights
From its spectacular 1 April launch into a clear blue Florida sky, Artemis II has provided the world with a succession of captivating moments, deep-space records, and stunning, never-before-seen imagery from the far side of the moon.
Here are a few of the 10-day mission’s highlights:
Flight day 1 (launch day)
Hundreds of thousands of people packed the beaches and causeways of Florida’s space coast, and millions more watched on TV or online, as the mighty Space Launch System (SLS) rocket of Artemis II lifted off at 6.35pm ET on humanity’s first journey to the moon in almost 54 years.
“It foundational for what we do here at Nasa to inspire,” Jared Isaacman, the space agency’s new administrator, said at the post-launch press conference.
“It should be a component of every one of our missions. We want to inspire and create interest in the next generation to grow up and contribute to this endeavor.”
Flight day 2
After orbiting Earth while the astronauts and flight controllers in Houston established that the spacecraft, now known by its mission handle of Integrity, was functioning properly, a translunar injection burn committed it to the 250,000-mile journey to moon.
Flight day 5
Artemis II entered the moon’s gravitational sphere of influence at 12.37am ET, the first crewed spacecraft to do so since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
Flight day 6
After setting a record for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth – 252,756 miles – and experiencing a 40-minute communications blackout during which they ate maple cookies supplied by Canadian crewmember Jeremy Hansen, Artemis II’s astronauts embarked on a six-hour observation of the lunar surface.
“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It’s just unbelievable,” Hansen said as Orion began the flyby and made its closest approach at a height of 4,067 miles.
The crew also witnessed an “absolutely stunning” solar eclipse.
Flight day 10 (splashdown)
Other than launch day, the riskiest part of the mission. The crew donned reentry spacesuits and completed final mission closeout tasks, including configuring the capsule’s seats for their 25,000mph descent to the Pacific Ocean.
Perspectives from the moon
All four of the Artemis II astronauts spoke passionately during the mission about what they were seeing, and how they felt, as they passed over the surface of the moon at 4,067 miles away, their closest approach on Monday.
Reid Wiseman, mission commander:
We saw sights that no human has ever seen before, not even in Apollo, and that was amazing for us. The surprise of the day, we just came out of an eclipse where the sun, moon – the entire dark moon about that big right out the window that we were watching – we could see the corona of the sun, and then we could see the planet train line up, and Mars
And all of us commented how excited we are to watch this nation, and this planet, become a two-planet species
Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist:
We have seen just some extraordinary things. Things I thought we might see looked similar to what I thought they might look like, and other things I just had never even imagined
The perspective I launched with was that we live on a fragile planet in the vacuum and the void of space. We’re very fortunate to live on planet Earth. Our purpose as humans is to find joy in lifting each other up by creating solutions together instead of destroying, and when you see it from out here it doesn’t change it, it just absolutely reaffirms that
Christina Koch, mission specialist:
I just had an overwhelming sense of being moved by looking at the moon. It lasted just a second or two and I actually couldn’t even make it happen again, but something just threw me in suddenly to the lunar landscape and it became real
The moon really is its own unique body in the universe. When we have that perspective and we compare it to our home of Earth, it just reminds us how much we have in common. Everything we need, Earth provides, and that, in and of itself, is somewhat of a miracle, and one that you can’t truly know until you’ve had the perspective of the other
Victor Glover, pilot:
It was very moving to look out the window. It was hard to speak looking through the zoom [lens], I went straight where Christina went and I was walking around down there on the surface, climbing and off-roading on that amazing terrain
Boy, I am loving the terminator [the dividing line between sunlight and darkness]. There’s just so much magic in the terminator, the islands of light, the valleys that look like black holes. You’d fall straight to the center of the moon if you stepped in some of those. It’s just so visually captivating
Artemis II record breakers
The crew of Artemis II traveled farther from Earth than any humans before them, reaching 252,756 miles, more than 4,000 beyond the previous record set by the Apollo 13 crew in April 1970.
“We do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration” mission specialist Jeremy Hansen said from space.
“We most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived.”
It wasn’t the only record set during their 10-day lunar flyby. Christina Koch became the only woman to have traveled to the moon and back. Hansen, of the Canadian Space Agency, became the first non-American. Victor Glover, the Artemis II pilot, became the first person of color to do so.
Before the four Artemis II astronauts, only 24 humans made the journey and returned safely. All were white American men during nine manned Apollo missions between December 1968 and December 1972.
On the eve of splashdown day, the Artemis II crew spoke about inspiring the next generation and “working on something big for the good of everyone”.
You can catch up on their comments here:
What to expect as Artemis II comes home
The splashdown of the Orion capsule will follow a precise timeline through the afternoon and evening on Friday.
Nasa says the scheduled splashdown time of 5.07pm PT (8.07pm ET; 1.07am Saturday BST) is approximate, and will harden as the capsule passes certain milestones during its descent.
Here’s what the day looks like right now (all times Pacific):
8.35am Crew wakes up
10.50am Crew completes cabin configuration preparation
11.53am Final return trajectory correction burn
4.33pm Orion separates from service module
4.37pm Crew module raise burn to place spacecraft at correct angle for reentry
4.53pm Entry interface to Earth’s atmosphere at 400,000ft
5.07pm Splashdown
Orion will be exposed to heat up to 5,000F (2,760C) during its 25,000mph reentry. A set of 11 parachutes will deploy in sequence at set altitudes following reentry that will slow the spacecraft to 17mph at splashdown.
It could take up to two hours after splashdown for crews from Nasa and the US navy to reach the capsule, open the hatch and release the astronauts. Nasa plans to take them by helicopter to a military base in San Diego for medical checks, then they will fly back to Houston’s Johnson Space Center.
Nasa plans a post-landing press conference about two and a half hours after splashdown.
Updated
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the splashdown of the Artemis II crew off the coast of California after their mesmerizing 10-day mission to fly around the moon.
The Orion capsule that carried four astronauts, three Americans and one Canadian, on their 695,000-mile lunar adventure is scheduled to land at 5.07pm PT (8.07pm ET, 1.07am Saturday BST).
I’m Richard Luscombe, and I’ll be bringing you the developments as they happen, from the preparations for Orion’s fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, to its Pacific Ocean splashdown and hatch opening that will give the crew their first breaths of fresh air since before their launch from Florida on 1 April.
