Artemis II crew returns to Earth

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts splashed down in the Pacific on April 10, ending the first crewed trip around the Moon since the Apollo era. (nasa.gov) NASA said Orion hit the water at 5:07 p.m. Pacific time off the California coast after a mission lasting 9 days, 1 hour and 32 minutes. Recovery teams then moved the capsule and crew to a Navy ship. (nasa.gov) The crew was NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. NASA said the mission launched on April 1 and carried them around the Moon before the return to Earth. (nasa.gov) A lunar flyby is a loop around the Moon without landing, using the Moon’s gravity to bend the spacecraft back toward Earth. Artemis II was NASA’s first crewed test of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket on a deep-space route. (pbs.org) (nasa.gov) NASA said the flight was the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The agency is using Artemis flights to test hardware and procedures before sending astronauts to lunar orbit and later to the surface. (nasa.gov) During the mission, NASA said the crew passed the Apollo 13 distance mark and set a new record for the farthest humans have traveled from Earth, reaching 252,756 miles from the planet on April 6. (apnews.com) (artemistracker.com) The return was the riskiest phase. Orion reentered the atmosphere at about Mach 33, using its heat shield and parachutes to slow from lunar-return speed to an ocean landing. (msn.com) (pbs.org) NASA posted images and video of the crew’s return and later said the astronauts were back in Houston to reunite with their families. The agency has cast Artemis II as the proving flight for later missions aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon. (nasa.gov 1) (nasa.gov 2)