{"id":577196,"date":"2026-04-11T03:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577196\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T03:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T03:41:08","slug":"artemis-ii-astronauts-are-home-after-a-record-breaking-moon-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/577196\/","title":{"rendered":"Artemis II astronauts are home after a record-breaking moon mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Artemis II\u2019s astronauts closed out humanity\u2019s first lunar voyage<\/a> in more than half a century with a Pacific splashdown on Friday, blazing new records near the moon with grace and joy.<\/p>\n

It was a dramatic grand finale to a mission<\/a> that revealed not only swaths of the lunar far side never seen before by human eyes, but a total solar eclipse and a parade of planets, most notably our own shimmering Earth against the endless black void of space.<\/p>\n

With their flight now complete, the four astronauts have set NASA up for a moon landing by another crew in just two years and a full-blown moon base within the decade.<\/p>\n

The triumphant moon-farers \u2014 commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada\u2019s Jeremy Hansen \u2014 emerged from their bobbing capsule into the sunlight off the coast of San Diego. <\/p>\n

In a scene reminiscent of NASA\u2019s Apollo moonshots<\/a> of yesteryear, military helicopters hoisted the astronauts one by one from an inflatable raft docked to the capsule, hauling them aboard for the short trip to the Navy\u2019s awaiting recovery ship, the USS John P. Murtha. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese were the ambassadors from humanity to the stars that we sent out there right now, and I can\u2019t imagine a better crew,\u201d NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said from the recovery ship.<\/p>\n

Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the entire plunge on automatic pilot. The lunar cruiser hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 \u2014 or 33 times the speed of sound \u2014 a blistering blur not seen since the 1960s and 1970s Apollo.<\/p>\n

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout. All eyes were on the capsule\u2019s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry.<\/p>\n

Watching the drama unfold nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away, hundreds of jubilant workers jammed Mission Control to celebrate the splashdown. Astronauts\u2019 families huddled in a viewing room, where cheers erupted when the capsule emerged from its six-minute blackout and again at splashdown.<\/p>\n

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew\u2019s reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 36,170 feet (11,025 meters) per second \u2014 or 24,661 mph (39,668 kph) \u2014 just shy of the record before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.<\/p>\n

Until Artemis II, NASA\u2019s fresh-from-the-moon homecomings starred only white male pilots. Intent on reflecting changes in society, NASA chose a diverse, multinational crew for its lunar comeback.<\/p>\n

Koch became the first woman to fly to the moon, Glover the first Black astronaut and Hansen the first non-U.S. citizen, bursting Canada with pride. They laughed, cried and hugged all the way there and back, striving to take the entire world along with them.<\/p>\n

Artemis II\u2019s record flyby and views of the moon<\/p>\n

Launched from Florida<\/a> on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA\u2019s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.<\/p>\n

Artemis II didn\u2019t land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13\u2019s distance record<\/a> and marked the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when the crew reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission\u2019s most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters<\/a> after their moonship and Wiseman\u2019s late wife, Carroll.<\/p>\n

During Monday\u2019s record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes<\/a> of the moon\u2019s far side never seen before by the human eye along with a total solar eclipse. The eclipse, in particular, \u201cjust blew all of us away,\u201d Glover said.<\/p>\n

Their sense of wonder and love<\/a> awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8\u2019s first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our Blue Marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8\u2019s famous Earthrise shot from 1968. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely and to set up for a series more,\u201d Isaacman said. \u201cThis is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaacman greeted the astronauts with hugs as they headed from the helicopters to ship\u2019s medical bay for routine checks. They walked by themselves, refusing the wheelchairs offered them.<\/p>\n

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain\u2019s King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d; Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV\u2019s original \u201cStar Trek.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artemis II was a test flight for future moon missions <\/p>\n

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule\u2019s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, the toilet kept malfunctioning, but the astronauts shrugged it all off.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,\u201d Koch said, \u201cunless we\u2019re making a few sacrifices, unless we\u2019re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Hansen: \u201cYou do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it\u2019s a doozy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year\u2019s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon\u2019s south pole in 2028.<\/p>\n

The Artemis II astronauts\u2019 allegiance was to those future crews, Wiseman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Artemis II\u2019s astronauts closed out humanity\u2019s first lunar voyage in more than half a century…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9178,6626,4,450,2356,103,196513,12,40331,793,451,198167,253546,8832,9580,4762,3,6625,121358,14069,4114,79,9175,9176,74,1022,452,453,1059,795,1049,130459,19875,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-577196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-aerospace-and-defense-industry","9":"tag-astronomy","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-breakingnews","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-christina-koch","15":"tag-donald-trump","16":"tag-eclipses","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-headlines","19":"tag-jeremy-hansen","20":"tag-john-murtha","21":"tag-king-charles-iii","22":"tag-mark-carney","23":"tag-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-planets","26":"tag-reid-wiseman","27":"tag-ryan-gosling","28":"tag-scarlett-johansson","29":"tag-science","30":"tag-space-exploration","31":"tag-spacecraft","32":"tag-technology","33":"tag-texas","34":"tag-top-stories","35":"tag-topstories","36":"tag-tx-state-wire","37":"tag-u-s-news","38":"tag-united-kingdom","39":"tag-victor-glover","40":"tag-william-shatner","41":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}