'I'm at a loss for words': Artemis II mission comes home to joy and cheers after historic 10-day mission

The Artemis II mission ended in a dramatic fashion on April 10, 2026, when NASA's Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of San Diego, closing out humanity's first crewed journey to the moon in over 50 years.

The four-person crew — consisting of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — returned to Earth after a 10-day mission that tested the systems NASA plans to use for future lunar expeditions. NASA said the splashdown occurred at 8:07 p.m. EDT or 5:07 PST, with recovery operations led by the US Navy's USS John P. Murtha.

"The vehicle is in excellent shape," said NASA's mission commentator, Rob Navias, during the April 10 livestream.

An extreme homecoming

Re-entry tends to be one of the more dramatic and dangerous parts of a mission, especially for Artemis II.

Unlike return missions from the International Space Station, which begin in low Earth orbit and thus don't need nearly as much speed to return to Earth, Artemis II flew back into Earth's atmosphere from the moon at near-record-breaking speeds. Orion came back at roughly 24,600 mph (39,600 kmh), around 24 times the speed of a bullet. That faster speed meant that the capsule's heat shield endured around twice the amount of heat as a spacecraft coming back from the ISS.

Unlike Artemis I, which launched in 2022, Artemis II's re-entry took a more direct path through the atmosphere due to concerns about the capsule's heat shield. In the end, the shield endured temperatures of up to around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit — half the temperature of the sun — before Orion landed safely in the Pacific Ocean.

'Bullseye' landing ends historic mission

The re-entry could not have gone more smoothly, NASA said, as Orion and its systems did exactly what they were designed to do. After a nail-biting six minutes of radio blackout, during which a cloud of superheated plasma enveloped the capsule, Orion appeared safe and sound in a near-cloudless sky.

Then, at 22,000 feet the three main parachutes unfurled, helping to slow the crew module down to a gentler 20 miles per hour (32 kmh) before the capsule landed in the ocean. As the astronauts emerged onto the floating recovery raft accompanied by U.S. Navy recovery divers, mission control in Houston erupted into raucous cheers.

"I'm still at a loss for words," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in NASA's livestream. "Childhood Jared right now can't believe what I just saw. This is just the beginning, we are gonna get back into doing this with frequency, sending missions to the moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base"

The Artemis II crew have captivated millions around the world with their voyage, beaming back stunning images, scientific insights, laughter and some tears as they made history and laid the groundwork for humanity's return to the moon.

"I took a brief moment to say a short prayer of gratitude for being sent on this mission and trusted with bringing back scientifically relevant information," Glover said not long after the crew had reappeared from their flyby behind the moon on Monday (April 6). "And I also just felt like I was hoping that people looked up and were watching to see when we came back into communication, and that maybe there was a chance that folks would feel a sense of togetherness."