Artemis II crew returns to Earth after 10-day lunar flyby
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- Artemis II crew of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 5:07pm PT after a 10-day journey around the moon, marking the first crewed lunar voyage since Apollo 17 in December 1972
- NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called the astronauts "almost poets" and "ambassadors for humanity" during celebrations at the Johnson Space Center
- The Artemis II mission tested space hardware and life support systems deemed critical to NASA's planned 2028 lunar landing and its stated goal of building a permanent moon base by the end of the decade
- President Trump posted on Truth Social that he "could not be more proud" of the crew — the same week his administration is moving to slash NASA's budget by more than 23%
- NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya declared "the path to the lunar surface is open" and "this time we return to stay," telling reporters the work ahead is greater than the work behind them
- Commander Reid Wiseman was the last of the four astronauts to emerge from the Orion capsule in their orange flight suits, reporting to mission control that the crew was feeling fine after their first breath of fresh air since the April 1 launch
- NASA's recovery teams transported the crew by helicopter to the USS John P Murtha, while a NASA TV commentator said he hadn't seen mission control celebrate like that since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011
Why it matters: The successful splashdown ends a 53-year gap in crewed lunar travel and validates the hardware NASA needs for its 2028 landing and a permanent moon base — but the White House is simultaneously pushing to cut NASA's budget by more than 23%, putting the very follow-on missions this flight was designed to enable in immediate jeopardy.
