On Friday, 10 April 2026, at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time (2:07 a.m. Polish time on 11 April), the Lockheed Martin Orion MPCV (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle), bearing the name CM-003 Integrity and carrying four astronauts on board, completed the historic Artemis II mission, which lasted nearly 10 days, by safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean east of San Diego.
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, mission commander, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist 2 / Photos: NASA
NASA astronauts Victor Glover, mission pilot, and Christina Koch, mission specialist 1
“Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, welcome home, and congratulations on a truly historic achievement. NASA is grateful to President Donald Trump and partners in Congress for providing the mandate and resources that made this mission and the future of Artemis possible,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Artemis II demonstrated extraordinary skill, courage, and dedication as the crew pushed Orion, SLS (Space Launch System), and human exploration farther than ever before. As the first astronauts to fly this rocket and spacecraft, the crew accepted significant risk in service of the knowledge gained and the future we are determined to build. NASA also acknowledges the contributions of the entire NASA workforce, along with our international partners, whose expertise and commitment were essential to this mission’s success. With Artemis II complete, focus now turns confidently toward assembling Artemis III and preparing to return to the lunar surface, build the base, and never give up the Moon again.”
After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts were welcomed by a joint NASA and U.S. Navy recovery team, which helped them exit the spacecraft at sea and transported them by two MH-60S Seahawk helicopters to the San Antonio Flight I-class amphibious transport dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) for initial medical examinations. The crew members are expected to return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, 11 April.
We can achieve great things when we work together.
The Artemis II recovery team includes specialists from the U.S. military alongside engineers and technicians from NASA and Lockheed Martin. pic.twitter.com/eQSPpNTeDS
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 11, 2026
During the mission, Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen traveled a total of 1,117,659 km (694,481 miles). Their lunar flyby enabled them to cover a greater distance than any crew before them, breaking the previous distance record set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970. Artemis II concluded a historic seven-hour flyby of the Moon (Artemis II completed a historic seven-hour flyby around the Moon).
The first crewed mission of the Artemis program was launched aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) Block 1 heavy-lift launch vehicle on 1 April at 22:35:12 UTC (00:35:12 Polish time on 2 April) from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With approximately 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, the U.S. rocket carried the Orion spacecraft crew into space, placing the vehicle precisely into orbit following a smooth countdown conducted by the Artemis launch control team (Artemis II crewed mission launches toward the Moon).
Big smiles from Christina and Victor on the deck of the USS John P. Murtha, as they waited to be escorted for their routine post-mission medical checks. pic.twitter.com/3KwZFXTLhI
— NASA (@NASA) April 11, 2026
During the first day in space, the astronauts and ground teams checked the spacecraft to confirm that all systems were operating properly before the lunar flyby. NASA also deployed four CubeSats from international partners into Earth orbit.
On the second day of the test flight, once all systems were ready for the mission, the ESM-2 European Service Module, built by Airbus Defence and Space, fired its main engine, placing the astronauts on a trajectory that, at closest approach, took them about 6,545 km (4,067 miles) above the lunar surface.
“The Artemis II crew is home. The entry, descent, and landing systems performed as designed and the final test was completed as intended. This moment belongs to the thousands of people across fourteen countries who built, tested, and trusted this vehicle. Their work protected four human lives traveling at 25,000 miles per hour and brought them safely back to Earth,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “Artemis II proved the vehicle, the teams, the architecture, and the international partnership that will return humanity to the lunar surface. Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy carried the hopes of this world farther than humans have traveled in more than half a century. Fifty‑three years ago, humanity left the Moon. This time, we returned to stay. The future is ours to win.”
With astronauts on board, engineers conducted the first full in-flight evaluation of Orion. The crew tested the life-support systems, confirming that Orion is capable of sustaining human life in deep space. During several piloting demonstrations, the crew members took manual control of the spacecraft, flying Orion to verify its handling characteristics and collect data that will help guide future rendezvous and docking operations with crew-rated lunar landers during Artemis III and subsequent missions.
Welcome home Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy!Check out pictures from the return of the #Artemis II! 📷: https://t.co/mG3LANO8ci pic.twitter.com/Wld2OEIwmD
— NASA HQ PHOTO (@nasahqphoto) April 11, 2026
The crew carried out a series of tests designed to determine how NASA will conduct future missions to the Moon, including evaluating spacecraft performance during crew drills, equipment checks and emergency procedures, the Orion Crew Survival System spacesuits, and other critical spacecraft systems.
Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen also supported scientific research intended to help NASA prepare astronauts to live and work on the Moon, as the agency moves forward with plans to build a lunar base and direct its efforts toward Mars. These experiments – including the AVATAR study, which examines how human tissues respond to microgravity and deep-space radiation, as well as other investigations into the effectiveness of human-led research – collected key health data for long-duration missions.
All four of the Artemis II astronauts have been successfully extracted from the Orion spacecraft following splashdown and are now on the USS John P. Murtha. Next up, they will be escorted to the medical bay where they will undergo post-mission medical evaluations. pic.twitter.com/v96RFKEUNN
— NASA (@NASA) April 11, 2026
During the lunar flyby on 6 April, the astronauts took more than 7,000 photographs of the Moon’s surface and of a solar eclipse, during which the Moon blocked the Sun from Orion’s point of view. The images include stunning views of Earthrise and Earthset, impact craters, ancient lava flows, the Milky Way, as well as surface fractures and color variations across the lunar surface.
They documented the topography along the boundary between the Moon’s near side and far side, where sunlight striking at a low angle cast long shadows across the surface, creating lighting conditions similar to those in the South Pole region, where astronauts are to land in 2028 as part of the Artemis III mission. The crew also proposed potential names for two lunar craters, Integrity and Carroll, and reported meteoroid impact flashes on the Moon’s dark side.
The Artemis II astronauts were all smiles on the flight deck of USS John P. Murtha after they were extracted from their Orion spacecraft after splashdown. pic.twitter.com/zajuR27pJJ
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 11, 2026
The scientific investigations conducted during Artemis II will pave the way for future missions to the lunar surface by helping to refine operational concepts and training astronauts to make informed assessments and identify areas of high scientific and exploration value.
.@NASAArtemis II astronauts successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean yesterday evening. Check out more images of the recovery operations
👉https://t.co/be0Ddkbd3u@NASA | @INDOPACOM | @1stAF | @USNavy pic.twitter.com/XEfPbz5J6L— U.S. Space Command (@US_SpaceCom) April 11, 2026
With the crew safely back on Earth, NASA and its partners will now focus on preparations for next year’s Artemis III mission, during which a new Orion crew will test integrated operations with commercially built lunar landers in low Earth orbit.
The astronauts. Their ride around the Moon.
The Artemis II astronauts pose for a group photo after viewing their Orion spacecraft — which they named Integrity — in the well deck of USS John P. Murtha following their splashdown. pic.twitter.com/dLicqJPoox
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 11, 2026
As part of a golden age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly challenging missions aimed at exploring more of the Moon in order to make scientific discoveries, generate economic benefits, establish a sustained human presence on the lunar surface, and lay the groundwork for sending the first astronauts, American astronauts, to Mars.