Artemis II, NASA’s latest crewed moon mission, ended humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than fifty years with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego. The nearly 10-day flight set new records near the moon and positioned NASA for a moon landing by another crew within two years and a permanent lunar base later in the decade.

The triumphant crew, commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen, emerged from their Orion capsule, Integrity, into bright sunlight as helicopters lifted them to the Navy recovery ship USS John P. Murtha. NASA leaders praised the diverse, multinational team as ideal ambassadors of humanity, reflecting how space exploration has changed since the Apollo era.

Back at Mission Control in Houston, engineers and families erupted in cheers when splashdown was confirmed. Integrity flew the entire reentry on automatic pilot, hitting the atmosphere at Mach 33 and disappearing into a six-minute blackout as red-hot plasma surrounded the capsule, before safely slowing for splashdown.

Launched from Florida on April 1, the mission did not land on the moon, but it broke Apollo 13’s distance record when the crew reached 252,756 miles from Earth. During a record-breaking flyby, they captured new images of the moon’s far side, watched a total solar eclipse, and filmed Earth setting behind the gray lunar surface, scenes that reminded many of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise and renewed appreciation for our fragile home planet.