(BBC News) The four astronauts who flew in NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon have splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean after a flawless return.
The crew safely boarded a waiting ship and is recovering from a nine-day voyage that took them farther from Earth than any humans in history.
Their Orion spacecraft was travelling at more than 38,600 km/h when it hit the Earth’s upper atmosphere and its heatshield was subjected to temperatures half as hot as found on the surface of the Sun.
Their safe return clears the way for the next stage of the Artemis program, which aims to land humans on the lunar surface and eventually build a permanent base on the Moon.
The extreme heat meant the capsule, which the astronauts named Integrity, lost contact with mission control in Houston for six minutes during the descent.
There were cheers when Commander Reid Wiseman’s voice was heard saying: “Houston, Integrity here. We hear you loud and clear.”
The mission’s moment of maximum jeopardy had passed, and soon the spacecraft’s red-and-white parachutes opened and sent the capsule sailing majestically through the sky.
“Good main chutes!” the NASA commentary said repeatedly, until the capsule hit the ocean for a perfect splashdown.
“A perfect bull’s-eye splashdown for Integrity and its four astronauts,” NASA commentator Rob Navias said moments after the landing.
The astronauts – Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen – were carefully extracted from the capsule and taken by helicopter to the USS John P Murtha, where they will undergo medical evaluations.
NASA said they would be flown to Houston to be reunited with their families today (Saturday).
As they waited on the ship’s deck, they could be seen smiling and chatting while posing for photos.
President Donald Trump welcomed them home and said the entire trip had been “spectacular”, repeating an invitation for them to visit the White House.
NASA has not yet confirmed when they will make their first public appearance.
The next flight, Artemis III, has been redesigned under NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman to be an Earth-orbital mission to test rendezvous and docking with the SpaceX and Blue Origin lunar landers, and is pencilled in for mid-2027.
The first actual Moon landing – Artemis IV – is targeted for 2028, though there are doubts that target is achievable.
