(NEXSTAR) – Artemis II’s voyage into space came to an exciting conclusion Friday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The team’s Orion capsule, dubbed “Integrity,” splashed down at 5:07 p.m. PT, about 60 miles off the coast of San Diego.
The crew returning are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Jeremy Hansen with the Canadian Space Agency.
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Their 10-day voyage marks our first return to the moon in more than 50 years.
Upon landing, all eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that had to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the only other test flight of the spacecraft — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 32 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s.
In this image from video provided by NASA, the Artemis II Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, on Friday, April 10, 2026. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, recovery teams approach the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II crewmembers after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026. (Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP)
Upon landing, Commander Wiseman reported “four green crew members,” which indicated that all four astronauts aboard the capsule were in good health. The astronauts did not immediately exit the capsule, instead, Integrity bobbed afloat in the Pacific for some time after splash down, as the crew waited for power down.
The Integrity’s hatch finally opened nearly one hour after splashdown.
To retrieve the astronauts, Navy divers inflated a massive raft called “the front porch,” to give them time to adjust to gravitational movement. From there, they were hoisted into hovering choppers for a full medical evaluation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
