Artemis II splashes down off southern US California coast

Four astronauts returned safely to Earth on Friday after completing a 10-day mission around the moon, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

The Orion capsule touched down at about 17:07 local time (0007 GMT Saturday) in the Pacific Ocean, in a recovery zone about 97 km west of Point Loma, the westernmost tip of San Diego in California, according to U.S. Coast Guard navigation notices.

Weather and sea conditions at the recovery site were favorable, with winds and wave heights within NASA's required safety limits, said NASA. It was the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The capsule entered Earth's atmosphere at nearly 38,390 km per hour, NASA reported. After a planned six-minute communications blackout, drogue parachutes deployed first, followed by three main parachutes, sequentially slowing the capsule to splashdown speed.

During re-entry, the capsule used a modified flight path designed to reduce peak heating loads on the heat shield. NASA developed the adjusted profile following issues identified during the Artemis I uncrewed test flight in 2022.

After splashing down, Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman said that all four crew members are in good condition. The other three crew members are NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

"We are back in the business of sending astronauts to the moon, bringing them back safely," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

Following the splashdown, U.S. Navy divers assisted the crew onto an inflatable recovery raft. Helicopters then transported them to the USS John P. Murtha for post-mission medical evaluations, according to NASA.

NASA said the mission lasted nine days, one hour, and 32 minutes, covering a total distance of 1.12 million km.

The crew set a new record for the farthest distance any humans have ever traveled from Earth. NASA said they reached 406,797 km from the planet, surpassing the record set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970.

The Artemis II mission is regarded as a critical step toward future crewed lunar landings under the Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028, with the long-term goal of building a base on the moon.

NASA said that engineers will immediately inspect the heat shield after the flight, with findings guiding design changes for Artemis III.